Attorneys can petition to recover fees under the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law for time they spent preparing and litigating fee petitions—but only within reason, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled in a case that could prove instructive for litigators across the state.

In Richards v. Ameriprise Financial, a case involving claims under the UTPCPL against Ameriprise Financial over alleged misrepresentations made by one of its financial advisers, a three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled that fee awards for hours spent pursuing fee awards can be proper. However, the panel added, the $200,363 an Allegheny County trial judge awarded to plaintiffs counsel, Kenneth Behrend of Behrend & Ernsberger in Pittsburgh, for preparing and litigating two fee petitions was excessive.