Connecticut Consumer Law Lacks Attorneys’ Fee Presumption

The Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act has no presumption that successful plaintiffs are entitled to attorneys’ fees, the state’s top court said.

The consumer law provides that “the court may award, to the plaintiff,” attorneys’ fees.

There is no statutory language and no legislative history indicating that the state’s lawmakers intended a presumption in favor of attorneys’ fees, the Connecticut Supreme Court said Dec. 11. The legislature has employed such presumptions in other statutes and has chosen not to do so here, it said.

But a trial court must reconsider whether Thomas G. Stone III is entitled to attorneys’ fees ...