Karon Law Blog

What is Chapter 93A?

Posted June 29, 2026

[Editor’s/Founder’s Note: Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 93A provides consumers with a poweful weapon against being cheated or unfairly taken advantage of by businesses, including insurance companies. Below, Attorney Julia Sicard explains how this important statute works. JAK]

By Julia Sicard

Chapter 93A is one of the most powerful, broad-sweeping, and commonly-invoked consumer protection laws in Massachusetts. It prohibits “[u]nfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce.” In other words, if a business is unfair or deceptive to you, and you suffer harm as a result, Chapter 93A gives you the right to sue for compensation. Chapter 93A is so powerful that it not only covers business-to-consumer conduct, but also business-to-business conduct.

Because the language of Chapter 93A is written so broadly, this law can come up in a variety of contexts including landlord-tenant disputes, real-estate transactions, dangerous and defective products, and insurance claims handling practices. Violations of other laws, such as a breach of the warranty of merchantability or habitability, may automatically count as violations of Chapter 93A.

How does a Chapter 93A Claim Work?

Generally speaking, you have four years to bring a Chapter 93A claim, absent special circumstances. At least 30 days before filing your Chapter 93A lawsuit, you must send a letter to the party that you believe violated Chapter 93A. In this letter, you must describe what happened, why you think it is a Chapter 93A violation, how you were harmed, and what you’re asking for. The specific requirements are laid out in Section 9 of the statute.

Once the other party receives your letter, they have 30 days to respond, either by rejecting your claim or making a settlement offer.  If they make a reasonable settlement offer to you within 30 days they can limit their liability to whatever they offered.  You can file your lawsuit if the other party fails to respond within 30 days or refuses to give you what you asked for.  

Lawsuits brought under Chapter 93A are usually bench trials, meaning the there is no jury. Instead, the judge hears the case and decides who wins.

How Could Chapter 93A show up in my Personal Injury Case?

At this point, you might be wondering: how could a consumer protection law help me in my personal injury lawsuit?

Chapter 93A commonly appears in the personal injury context through the insurance claims handling process. For example, if you are injured in a car accident, you have the right to be treated fairly by the insurance adjusters handling your claims. This includes both the liability adjuster of the at-fault driver’s insurance company, and the adjusters of your own insurance company who may be handling your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) claim and/or your underinsurance claim.

Unfortunately, insurance companies don’t always handle claims fairly. Insurance adjusters may delay investigations, ignore evidence, or make unreasonable settlement offers. When these actions cross the line into Chapter 93A “unfair or deceptive” territory, you can sue the insurance company as a separate claim from your underlying personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver.  

What Counts as a Chapter 93A Violation?

This is a good question and the answer is fairly fact specific. Chapter 93A itself doesn’t provide a complete list containing every possible violation. Instead, courts can consider many potential scenarios and determine violations on a case-by-case basis.

That said, another law—Chapter 176D Section 3—contains a list of prohibited insurance claim settlement practices which automatically count as Chapter 93A violations. Examples include: failing to respond to communications within a reasonable time, making unreasonably low settlement offers, and forcing people to file lawsuits to recover money that they are entitled to. For more information, stay tuned for our upcoming blog post on Chapter 176D.  

What Remedies are available under Chapter 93A?

            The purpose of Chapter 93A is to both compensate victims of unfair or deceptive acts or practices and discourage businesses from acting in bad faith. If you win your Chapter 93A case, you are entitled to recover actual damages plus reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. On top of that, if the court finds that the Chapter 93A violation was “willful or knowing”, the court will double or triple your reward.

What Should I do if I Think that An Insurance Company was Unfair or Deceptive?

The best thing to do if you believe that you suffered a loss because an insurance company treated you unfairly is contact an attorney. At Karon Law, we regularly help injured clients navigate insurance claims and identify potential Chapter 93A violations.