Usually not. If a judgment says on its face that interest will be added, you must raise any objection to that interest in your first appeal, or you lose it. In this neighbor drainage dispute, the Appeals Court also called the late challenge frivolous and let the other side seek its appeal fees and double costs. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
Two neighboring property owners fought over a drainage system that served both properties. The case began in 2017. After a jury trial, the judgment awarded the defendant estate $32,500 on its declaratory judgment claim “with statutory interest as provided by law,” plus $20,000 on nuisance and negligence counterclaims. With a judge’s approval, the estate had made major repairs to the drainage system costing about $50,000, and the jury found the plaintiff received 65 percent of the system’s benefits. On the plaintiff’s first appeal, the Appeals Court sent back only the $20,000 award for the trial judge to reconsider and otherwise affirmed. The judge reinstated the original judgment, and a second appeal was affirmed. When the estate then asked for an execution on the judgment, the plaintiff argued for the first time that interest should not be added to the $32,500 award. A judge ordered execution for the full amount plus interest, and the plaintiff appealed a third time.
What the court decided
In Weeks v. Estate of Powers, No. 24-P-768 (Mass. App. Ct. April 7, 2025) (Rule 23.0 decision), the Appeals Court affirmed for two reasons.
Waiver. The original judgment plainly said interest would be added. Because the issue was clear on the face of the judgment, the plaintiff could have raised it in her first appeal. She did not, so she waived it. The court relied on City Coal Co. of Springfield, Inc. v. Noonan, 424 Mass. 693 (1997), where the Supreme Judicial Court held that an argument about the prejudgment interest rate came too late for the same reason.
The award was compensatory. Even setting waiver aside, the court rejected the argument. The $32,500 was the plaintiff’s share of the repair costs the estate actually paid. That made it compensation for out of pocket losses. Prejudgment interest on compensatory damages exists to make a party whole for the loss of use of money while it was owed but unpaid. Fontaine v. Ebtec Corp., 415 Mass. 309 (1993). So adding interest was proper.
Frivolous appeal. The court agreed with the estate that the appeal was frivolous, because the plaintiff had no reasonable expectation of winning. It allowed the estate to file an application for appellate attorney’s fees and double costs within fourteen days, with the plaintiff given fourteen days to respond, following the procedure in Fabre v. Walton, 441 Mass. 9 (2004).
What this means for you
Neighbor disputes over drains, fences, trees and boundaries can last for years. This case shows what can happen when a party keeps litigating after the main issues are settled. Each round adds cost. Interest keeps running on a money judgment. And a court that finds an appeal frivolous can order the appealing party to pay the other side’s lawyer fees for the appeal.
The key lesson is timing. Read the judgment closely as soon as it enters. If it awards interest, costs or fees you think are wrong, that is the moment to object, and your first appeal is the place to raise it. Arguments that could have been made earlier are often lost for good.
If you are the party who paid for shared repairs, this case is helpful. A court treated a neighbor’s share of necessary repair costs as compensation, and added interest for the time the money went unpaid.
What to do now
- Get a copy of the judgment and read every line, including any language about interest, costs and fees.
- List every issue you think is wrong before you file a notice of appeal, so nothing is left out of the first appeal.
- Keep receipts and invoices for any shared repairs you pay for, and get court approval when the case calls for it.
- Before a second or third appeal, get an honest assessment of the chance of success and the risk of paying the other side’s fees.
- Consider whether paying or settling a judgment now costs less than letting interest grow.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. These cases move on short deadlines.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
