Matt views his role as a problem solver, whose success depends on using the tools available under the law to achieve those solutions. Early in his career, Matt managed the Twin Cities office of a boutique firm practicing in the areas of business and real estate litigation and transactions. While Matt’s background allows him to assist clients with virtually all business law and real estate matters, he practices primarily in the areas of Commercial Litigation, Community Association Law, Construction Litigation, Creditors Remedies and Debtor/Creditor Law, Real Estate Litigation and Insurance Litigation. He has also served as a mediator on an international contract dispute implicating the UN Commission on Foreign Trade, and has served as an appraiser on an insurance appraisal panel.
Matt has been recognized by his inclusion in the list of Minnesota’s Rising Stars, a distinction afforded to only 2.5% of Minnesota attorneys in any given year. Matt’s credentials also include authoring articles for Minnesota Community Living Magazine and CIC Midwest News, presenting at seminars on topics that affect community associations and their managers, and serving as the Chapter President of the Community Associations Institute – Minnesota Chapter, a national organization dedicated to serving and educating members of the community association industry. Matt also has been quoted extensively in articles published online at msn.com, YahooFinance.com, Bankrate.com, and HOAleader.com, and in print in Minnesota Lawyer, Habitat Magazine, and the Minneapolis StarTribune (see Published Works section).
Clients
Matt’s clients include individuals, local and national banks, businesses ranging from small family-owned companies to international corporations, as well as real property investors, developers, and contractors. He also works with property managers, management companies and boards of directors for numerous homeowners associations on matters ranging from document interpretation and drafting, to collections, as well as construction defect and insurance coverage litigation.
Notable Representations
- Real Estate
- Represented a national restaurant and bar chain in litigation involving claims in excess of $5 million for rent and property damage in a high-profile site.
- Advised a group of investors engaged in reinstating a prior vehicle used to develop a real estate project and a subsequent 29-unit purchase and sale, including purchasing a portion of pre-existing debt related to the project and obtaining new financing.
- Obtained summary judgment establishing adverse possession against multiple neighboring landowners in a hotly contested boundary dispute.
- Defended a real estate agent and brokerage against claims of negligence and fraud, including successfully briefing and arguing plaintiff’s motion to amend the complaint on the second day of trial, and obtaining a zero jury verdict.
- Prosecuted and defended numerous disputes involving interests in real estate, including mechanic’s liens, leases, partition actions, boundary disputes, title, and other matters.
- Construction litigation
- Successfully represented community associations and other parties in construction defect matters relating to negligence, breach of contract, and/or breach of warranties resulting in millions of dollars in recoveries, including:
- In a complex, 20-party lawsuit, elicited deposition testimony eliminating affirmative defenses, successfully opposed multiple motions for summary judgment, and negotiated the resolution of a construction defect suit involving claims in excess of $10 million.
- Negotiated a settlement in a construction defect matter resulting in the complete replacement of the roofs, plus additional inspection and repair protocols in a community association on a project estimated at approximately $2 million.
- Represented property owners through summary judgment and, at trial, established defendant was a general contractor and had not earned fees by abandoning project.
- Business/Employment Litigation
- Retained by general counsel’s office for one of the most highly-circulated newspapers in the world to advise regarding collection practices.
- Advised client engaged in dispute filed in the Northern District of California by technology fund over ownership of intellectual property rights related to software application for the delivery of medical services.
- Represented a business or a highly-compensated employee or seller of business in numerous actions, including seeking emergency injunctive relief, to enforce non-competition, non-solicitation, and/or trade secret protection provisions.
- Represented a business in the interpretation and enforcement of a stock purchase agreement being contested in bankruptcy court in Texas.
- Bankruptcy
- Successfully tried a case involving dischargeability issues in bankruptcy court, and argued appeals before the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Eighth Circuit and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Guided numerous creditors through chapter 7, 11, and 13 bankruptcy matters, including motions to lift the bankruptcy stay to proceed with foreclosures and other forms of litigation.
- Creditor’s remedies
- Represented banks and other creditors in matters involving bankruptcy, replevin, foreclosure, eviction, and negotiated workouts, recovering multi-million dollar judgments for clients and, on one occasion, the removal of a wall constructed in a commercial building to conceal a Ferrari, which was then seized as part of collection efforts.
- Insurance
- Successfully litigated insurance coverage disputes in the context of construction defect claims, resulting in six figure settlements paid by multiple insurance carriers.
- Retained as an appraiser to serve on the appraisal panel to determine the amount of the loss in a partial collapse involving a mixed-use commercial building containing residential and retail tenants.