Firm persuades business court to dismiss consumer protection claim against accounting firm
 

BOSTON (Jan. 27, 2010) – Partner Edward D. Shoulkin and Associate Andrew Weiner recently persuaded a judge in the Business Litigation Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court to dismiss a consumer protection claim against an accounting firm.

The judge took the unusual step of dismissing the claim of the plaintiff, a non-profit organization, early in the case before discovery had taken place. Attorney Weiner argued the motion to dismiss in court.

The plaintiff hired the firm’s client, an accounting firm, to audit its financial statements. The complaint alleged that the auditor did not meet professional standards by failing to discover that an outside bookkeeper previously hired by the plaintiff had fraudulently converted hundreds of thousands of dollars of its funds for his personal use.

Shoulkin and Weiner filed a motion to dismiss the Chapter 93A claim, arguing that the complaint failed to allege any facts to support the plaintiff’s contention that the auditor had violated the Massachusetts consumer protection statute. Chapter 93A requires evidence that the business practices in question involved some level of unfair, unscrupulous, or unethical behavior.

“This is the right decision,” Shoulkin said. “A finding of a 93A violation subjects the liable party to multiple damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. The law is settled that allegations of negligence do not support a consumer protection claim. We are pleased that the judge dismissed the consumer protection claim at the early stages of this litigation. Our client denies the negligence allegations, and we will continue to contest the remaining allegations in the complaint.”
 

About Taylor Duane

Taylor Duane is one of New England’s leading civil litigation law firms with offices in Boston and Providence. Its experienced trial attorneys appear regularly in the federal and state courts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The Providence Business News has named the firm in 2008 and 2009 as one of Rhode Island’s Best Places to Work.