Matthew R. Berry

Matt Berry represents plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts across the United States, including courts in Alaska, California, Delaware, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, and Washington. Since joining Susman Godfrey, Mr. Berry has worked on a wide variety of complex commercial litigation including patent infringement, audit malpractice, bankruptcy plan confirmation, breach of contract, life settlement insurance litigation, wage and hour class action, and violations of the False Claims Act.

University of Idaho (B.S., Finance, summa cum laude)
University of Washington (J.D., high honors)

Law Clerk to the Honorable Stephen S. Trott, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

• Member, William L. Dwyer American Inn of Court
• Order of the Coif
• Executive Articles Editor, Washington Law Review
• Author, Does Delaware's Section 102(b)(7) Protect Reckless Directors from Personal Liability? Only if Delaware Courts Act in Good Faith, 79 Wash. L. Rev. 1125 (2004).
• Vice President, Moot Court Honor Board
• Graue Scholar

• Washington State Bar
• United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
• United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, Inc., et al.

Mr. Berry currently represents Interval Licensing in a patent infringement action filed in the Western District of Washington against eleven defendants, including Apple, Google, Yahoo, AOL, eBay, Facebook, Office Depot, and Staples. See stories about the case here and here.

In re Marriage of McCourt

Mr. Berry currently represents Frank McCourt in the marital proceedings pending in Los Angeles Superior Court that involves a dispute over the ownership of property, including the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Medivation v. UC Regents and Aragon

Mr. Berry represents Aragon Pharmaceuticals in a breach of contract action pending in San Francisco Superior Court. Medivation filed the action against Regents alleging that it owns the right to develop certain chemical compounds for the treatment of advanced stages of prostate cancer that Regents had licensed to Aragon. Within weeks of being retained, Mr. Berry and his partners at Susman Godfrey successfully obtained leave of court for Aragon to intervene in the action to protect its property interest in the compounds.

Union Oil Company of Cal. v. Forest Oil Corp.

Mr. Berry currently represents Forest Oil Corporation in an action pending in Alaska federal court in which Union sued Forest Oil seeking over $48 million in damages alleged to have been incurred in the operation of oil and gas leases in Alaska.

In re Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy

Mr. Berry acted as U.S. counsel to the joint administrators and liquidators of the Lehman Brothers International (Europe) and its U.K. Lehman affiliates, including in connection with the tens of billions of dollars of claims that such companies have against Lehman’s U.S. entities.

Representations of Investors and Insurance Trusts in Life Settlement Cases

Mr. Berry represents investors and life insurance trusts in cases involving the alleged violations of insurable interest laws and other “STOLI” (stranger originated life insurance) related claims.

Mr. Berry successfully represented an insurance trust in a case pending in Delaware federal court involving an $18.5 million life insurance policy issued by Lincoln National Life Insurance Company. Lincoln sought a declaration that the policy was void ab initio and that Lincoln was entitled to keep over $1.6 million in premiums that the trust paid. The trust obtained a favorable settlement after it successfully obtained an order from the court that the trust was entitled to a full refund of premiums plus interest should Lincoln rescind the policy for lack of insurable interest. A copy of the court’s decision is available here.

Mr. Berry won reversal in a $20 million life settlement rescission lawsuit against Lincoln Life & Annuity Company of New York. Lincoln's lawsuit was based on allegations that the insurance policies lacked an insurable interest because they were procured by third-parties for investment purposes and because there were net worth and other misrepresentations in the applications. The California Court of Appeal reversed the trial court and ordered that the trial court enter judgment in favor of the trust. The case is Lincoln Life & Annuity Co. of New York v. Jonathan Berck, as Trustee of the Jack Teren Insurance Trust, Court of Appeal Case No. D056373 (Cal. Ct. App. May 17, 2011). A copy of the appellate court decision is available here.

Metropolitan Mortgage v. PricewaterhouseCoopers

Mr. Berry successfully represented the bankruptcy estate of Metropolitan Mortgage (Met) in an audit malpractice case against PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Washington federal court.  The case settled for $30 million dollars the day before trial was scheduled to begin.

Defense of Wage and Hour Class Action

Mr. Berry represented one of the world's largest retailers in a wage and hour class action with over 65,000 class members in Massachusetts state court.

Intellectual Property

Mr. Berry has represented clients in a number of intellectual property cases, including patent infringement actions in Texas, New York, Washington, and Delaware. Mr. Berry also represented Intellectual Ventures in an amicus brief filed with the United States Supreme Court in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc. Click here to view the brief.