G.L. c. 12, §§ 11H, 11I; Bally v. Northeastern University, 403 Mass. 713 (1989); Barron v. Kolenda, 491 Mass. 408 (2023)
The Massachusetts Civil Rights Act — threats, intimidation or coercion
A claim in Massachusetts trial courts · Last verified August 26, 2026
The Massachusetts Civil Rights Act is broader than its federal counterpart in one important way and narrower in another, and both differences come from the same sentence.
Broader: it reaches private actors, not only government. Section 1983 requires state action; the MCRA does not.
Narrower: the interference must be by threats, intimidation or coercion. A government that violates your rights — quietly, by denying a permit or refusing a licence — has not violated the MCRA, however wrong the denial was.
What the claim is
Someone interfered with your constitutional or statutory rights by threatening, intimidating or coercing you.
Where the right comes from
G.L. c. 12, § 11H (the Attorney General's action) and § 11I (the private action).
What a plaintiff has to prove
- The plaintiff exercised or enjoyed rights secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States or of the Commonwealth;
- The defendant interfered, or attempted to interfere, with those rights; and
- The interference was by threats, intimidation or coercion.
Element three is the whole statute.
What "threats, intimidation or coercion" means
Massachusetts courts have given the terms their ordinary meanings:
Threats — an intentional exertion of pressure to make another fearful or apprehensive of injury or harm.
Intimidation — putting a person in fear for the purpose of compelling or deterring conduct.
Coercion — the application of physical or moral force to constrain someone to do against their will something they would not otherwise do.
A direct violation of rights is not enough. Bally v. Northeastern University, 403 Mass. 713 (1989), holds that the Legislature "did not intend to create a vast constitutional tort" and that interference without threats, intimidation or coercion is outside the statute. A university that imposed a drug-testing requirement, a board that denied an application, an agency that refused a benefit — none of those violates the MCRA merely by being wrong.
Economic coercion can qualify. Threatening to withhold something the plaintiff is entitled to, or to impose consequences the defendant has no right to impose, has supported claims.
Physical confrontation is the paradigm — the case where a person is threatened out of exercising a right they were about to exercise.
Barron v. Kolenda
Barron v. Kolenda, 491 Mass. 408 (2023), is the most significant recent MCRA decision and it concerns speech at public meetings.
The SJC held that a town's civility policy for public comment periods violated the right to free speech under the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, and addressed the MCRA claim arising from officials' conduct toward residents who criticised them. The decision matters here for two reasons: it confirms that public officials silencing criticism at a public meeting can supply the threats, intimidation or coercion element, and it reinforces that the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights is an independent source of the secured rights the MCRA protects — a claimant need not rely on federal constitutional law.
How long you have to file
Three years, under G.L. c. 260, § 5B, which sets the period for civil rights actions.
What has to happen before you file
Nothing. The MCRA has no presentment requirement, no administrative exhaustion and no demand letter.
That is worth noting against the alternatives. A negligence claim against a public employer requires presentment within two years. A discrimination claim requires a 300-day MCAD charge. The MCRA requires neither.
What the claim pays
Section 11I gives a prevailing plaintiff:
Injunctive and other equitable relief, which is often the object — an order stopping the conduct.
Compensatory damages for the interference and its consequences.
Costs and reasonable attorney's fees, which the statute directs the court to award to a prevailing plaintiff. That fee provision is the reason the claim is pleaded alongside torts that carry none.
Twelve percent prejudgment interest on the damages.
No punitive damages under the statute itself.
Who can be sued
Private individuals and organisations. This is the MCRA's distinctive reach — no state action is required, so a private employer, a landlord, a neighbour or a private university can be a defendant.
Public officials and employees, personally.
Municipalities and public entities, with a real qualification: Massachusetts courts have held that a municipality is not a "person" subject to liability under § 11I. Claims against government therefore run against the individuals.
How it fits beside the other claims
Federal § 1983 requires state action, has its own fee statute in 42 U.S.C. § 1988, and does not require threats, intimidation or coercion. Where a government actor is involved, both are usually pleaded.
Chapter 151B is the exclusive remedy for employment discrimination within its scope, and it preempts an MCRA claim resting on the same discriminatory conduct.
Assault and false imprisonment often arise from the same encounter, and they carry no fee award — which is why the MCRA count is added.
The Tort Claims Act does not apply, because this is a statutory civil rights claim rather than a tort claim under c. 258.
Common defenses
- No threats, intimidation or coercion — the Bally defence, and the one raised in almost every case.
- No secured right was interfered with.
- Qualified immunity, for a public official whose conduct did not violate clearly established law.
- A municipality is not a person under § 11I.
- Chapter 151B preemption, in employment.
- Limitations — three years.
What people get wrong
Being wronged by the government is not an MCRA claim. Without threats, intimidation or coercion, there is no violation, however clearly the right was infringed.
It reaches private defendants. Most people assume civil rights claims require government involvement. This one does not.
A city cannot be sued under it. The claim goes against individuals.
There is no presentment and no exhaustion, which makes it available when the Tort Claims Act route has closed.
Fees are the reason to plead it. The underlying torts usually shift none.
Where it came from
The MCRA was enacted in 1979, at a moment when Massachusetts was dealing with organised private intimidation — cross burnings, threats against families moving into neighbourhoods, harassment of people exercising rights the federal civil rights statutes protected only against state actors.
Section 1983 could not reach that conduct, because the people doing it were private. The Legislature's answer was a statute that dropped the state-action requirement entirely — and then, to keep the result from becoming a general damages remedy for every constitutional violation in the Commonwealth, required that the interference take a particular form.
Bally confirmed that the limit was deliberate. A statute reaching every direct violation of a secured right would, in the SJC's phrase, have created a vast constitutional tort — and the Legislature had used narrower words than that.
Barron in 2023 shows the statute working as intended in a setting its drafters would not have predicted: a town using a civility rule to shut down criticism at a public meeting. The conduct is governmental, the right is one the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights secures independently of federal law, and the pressure applied to the speakers is what makes it actionable.
Common questions
What does the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act require?
That someone interfered with your constitutional or statutory rights by threats, intimidation or coercion. Without that element there is no claim.
Can I sue a private person or company?
Yes. Unlike federal § 1983, the MCRA does not require state action.
Can I sue a city or town?
No. Massachusetts courts have held a municipality is not a "person" under § 11I. The claim goes against individuals.
What if the government just violated my rights outright?
That is not enough on its own. Bally holds a direct violation without threats, intimidation or coercion is outside the statute.
Can I recover attorney's fees?
Yes. Section 11I directs an award of costs and reasonable attorney's fees to a prevailing plaintiff.
How long do I have to sue?
Three years, and there is no presentment or exhaustion requirement.