The state Supreme Court on Wednesday reaffirmed its nearly two-decade-old commitment to a doctrine that permits trial judges to enhance counsel fees in cases that might never be filed if not for the ability to shift fees.

In a consolidated ruling in two cases, the unanimous Court overturned two appellate rulings that followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding, in Perdue v. Kenny A., 130 S.Ct. 1662 (2010), that trial judges may award fees only in rare and extraordinary circumstances.