Matt concentrates his practice on complex products liability litigation, toxic tort and environmental litigation and commercial litigation. Matt oversees the firm’s Connecticut toxic tort, asbestos and commercial litigation practice. He also serves as part of a national coordinating counsel team for several companies that manages toxic tort litigation throughout the United States. Additionally, Matt serves on a team that conducts due diligence on behalf of clients seeking to buy target companies that are engaged in toxic tort/mass tort litigation. In this role, they analyze and assess risk and advise clients concerning potential future claims, successor liability, insurance coverage, and similar issues.
Matt has pre-trial and trial experience before the Massachusetts Superior and District Courts, Connecticut Superior Courts, the United States District Courts for the Districts of Massachusetts, Connecticut and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut and the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals. Most recently, he was part of a team of attorneys that obtained a defense verdict for a major building materials manufacturer after a three week jury trial in an asbestos personal injury case in Massachusetts state court, only the second asbestos case in Massachusetts to be tried to verdict in the last ten years.
Prior to joining Cetrulo LLP, Matt worked as an associate at a Boston law firm specializing in products liability and insurance defense litigation. There he advised and defended manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in products liability cases involving automobiles, heavy trucks and tractors, personal watercraft, boats, firearms, tobacco, children’s toys, hot water heaters, industrial machinery, and household cleaning and insect control products. He was part of trial team for a major automobile manufacturer that won a defense verdict in Massachusetts state court in a catastrophic personal injury case arising from a crash resulting in paraplegia where the claims involved minivan roof and restraint design defect allegations.
During law school, Matt participated in Suffolk University Law School’s Prosecutors Program, appearing weekly in the Chelsea District Court as a Student Prosecutor for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, worked as a law clerk in the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts in Boston, and served as a judicial intern for New York State Supreme Court Justice Robert R. Meehan. He has also worked as a legal assistant in the Government Contracts/Business Crimes group of a large law firm in Washington, D.C.
Education
- J.D., Cum Laude, Suffolk University Law School, Boston, Massachusetts, 1998
- B.A., History, Cum Laude, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA, 1992
Admissions
Clerkships
- United States Attorney’s Office, Civil Division, Law Clerk, Boston, Massachusetts
Memberships
- Massachusetts Bar Association
- Connecticut Bar Association
- Defense Research Institute
- Association of Defense Trial Attorneys
- International Association of Defense Counsel
Community Involvement
- Board of Directors, Congregation Beth Shalom of the Blue Hills
- Milton American Baseball, Coach, 2015-2019
- CroART Lacrosse, WeeLax for Kids, Coach, 2017
- Brown v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 814 F.3d 619 (2d Cir. 2016) Worked with client, a major aerospace company, to obtain dismissal based on lack of personal jurisdiction in United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, which was upheld in landmark ruling in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
- Federal Insurance Co. v. XTRA Intermodal, Inc.No. 14-cv-14010-ADB, 2015 WL 4275181 (D. Mass. July 15, 2015) Worked with client to obtain favorable ruling on motion to transfer venue for transportation company involved in litigating insurance coverage dispute arising out of the environmental cleanup of a Superfund site in Illinois.
- Beyer v. Anchor Insulation Co., Inc. No. 3:13cv1576-JBA, 2014 WL 5465698 (D. Conn. Oct. 28, 2014) Obtained favorable ruling on motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ CUTPA claims at outset of alleged isocyanate exposure case for spray polyurethane foam manufacturer and later joined with co-defendants’ to obtain Daubert ruling precluding Plaintiffs’ medical expert’s testimony on causation issues in same case.
- Abate v. AAF McQuay, Inc. No. CV-10-6006228-S, 2013 WL 1715686 (Conn. Super. Ct. Apr. 1, 2013) Obtained summary judgment for multi-purpose tool manufacturer in case of first impression in Connecticut involving duty to warn theory in asbestos-related personal injury case.
- Donlan v. A.W. Chesterton, et al., C.A. No.: 07-0774 (Middlesex Super. Ct.) Part of a team of attorneys that obtained a defense verdict for a major building materials manufacturer after a three week jury trial in an asbestos personal injury case.
- Simon v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., C.A. No.: MICV2000-01486 (Middlesex Super. Ct.) Part of team of attorneys that obtained a defense verdict for automobile manufacturer after jury trial in products liability case involving allegations of auto design defect arising from catastrophic injury to driver from motor vehicle accident.
- Massachusetts Super Lawyers-Rising Star, 2009 & 2010
- Martindale-Hubbell® AV-Preeminent™ Peer Rated