What Is a 93A Demand Letter in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts consumer protection law starts with a letter. M.G.L. c. 93A, sec. 9 requires a written demand for relief, mailed or delivered at least thirty days before a consumer protection action is filed, identifying the claimant and reasonably describing both the unfair or deceptive act relied upon and the injury suffered.

What the thirty days are for

The demand letter is not a formality on the way to court. It gives the business thirty days to respond, and what the business does inside that window shapes the rest of the case.

If the response is a refusal made in bad faith, or if the underlying violation was willful or knowing, the award rises from actual damages to between two and three times that amount. That is the multiplier that gets quoted from this section, and both triggers are in the text.

The recovery, stated as the statute states it

Actual damages, or twenty-five dollars, whichever is greater. Multiplied to not less than two and not more than three times that amount on a finding of a willful or knowing violation, or of a bad-faith refusal to grant relief on demand. Reasonable attorney’s fees and costs are available regardless of the amount in controversy.

The tender rule, which cuts the other way

Section 9 also gives the respondent a tool. A respondent who makes a reasonable written tender of settlement within the thirty days can cap the claimant’s entire recovery at the amount tendered if the claimant rejects it.

That is why a demand letter sent quickly, or built on a weak description of the injury, can cost a consumer money rather than make money. The letter is a strategic document, not a template to fill in.

When the demand is not required

The demand requirement does not apply to counterclaims or cross-claims. It also does not apply where the respondent has no place of business and no assets within the commonwealth.

Section 9 is not section 11

Chapter 93A contains two private rights of action. Section 9 is the consumer provision described on this page. Section 11 governs claims between businesses, carries no demand-letter requirement, and applies different standards. Reading advice written for one section into the other is a frequent and expensive mistake.