Matthew D. Anderson

(802) 775-7141

Biography

I grew up in the village of Brandon. I graduated from Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Rutland and then The University of Vermont. At UVM I competed for the school’s nationally recognized intercollegiate debate team, the Lawrence Debate Union, and won a few debate tournaments.

After college I moved to Dorchester, Massachusetts to work for Sun Life of Canada on qualified IRC 1035 tax-free annuity exchanges under time pressure. Then I moved south to Williamsburg, Virginia to attend the nation’s oldest law school, the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary, founded in 1779. I live with my wife and two daughters in Pittsford.

Legal Experience

After graduating from William and Mary I returned home to Vermont and began working for the Rutland civil law firm of Webber, Reis, Holler & Urso. Bob Reis was my primary mentor at Webber Reis. He tried over fifty cases to jury verdict in his career and was perhaps the only lawyer in the state who obtained a million dollar jury verdict in a civil case, a defendant’s verdict in a wrongful death medical malpractice trial, and an acquittal in a murder trial. We worked together for over a decade. A few representative matters that are part of the public record include:

Defense of a gender discrimination action alleging that an Elks Club was not a truly private club and therefore was not entitled to refuse to admit women as full members. Human Rights Comm’n v. Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks of U.S., 2003 VT 104, 176 Vt. 125, 839 A.2d 576 (2003) (reversing trial court grant of summary judgment to the Hartford Elks Club).
Successful prosecution of a liability insurance coverage priority declaratory rights action between three insurers of a milk truck and trailers involved in a catastrophic, multiple fatality, trucking accident. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co. v. CNA Ins. Co., 2004 VT 93, 177 Vt. 215, 862 A.2d 251 (2004).
Obtaining summary judgment for a college student who burned his dormitory down in a federal court action brought by the college’s fire insurer on the grounds that the student was an implied co-insured under the policy and therefore could not be held liable in subrogation to the insurer for the loss. Green Mountain College v. Vaillancourt, 2:02-cv-52 (Niedermeier, J., 2004).
Obtaining summary judgment on behalf of a property owner using an affirmative defense to the strict liability statutory enforcement regime in a case in which the State of Vermont sought over a million dollars in past and future damages incident to cleaning up perchloroethylene contamination at the dry cleaner site. State v. Howe Cleaners, Inc., 2010 VT 70, 188 Vt. 303, 307, 9 A.3d 276, 278 (2010).

After Bob Reis was lost to cancer in the autumn of 2011 I took complete control of the existing litigation case load we had shared. Since then I have successfully taken multiple cases to jury verdict as first chair counsel.

In 2013 I joined Pratt Vreeland “Of Counsel” and became a principal the following year. As of this writing approximately one-third of my practice is devoted to personal injury litigation arising from car and commercial truck accidents, falls on commercial property, and downhill skiing, among others. I derive immense satisfaction from working with clients who have been injured and seeing that they receive the full compensation to which they are entitled. The rest of my practice concerns other types of civil litigation including litigating on behalf of corporations, banks, small businesses, property owners, condominium boards, landlords, creditors and real estate developers.

Community Involvement

Member, Vermont Bar Foundation Grants Committee (2018-2021; Chair, 2020-2021)
Member, Grace Congregational Church (UCC), Rutland, VT
Former Member, Rutland City Rotary Club and Rutland South Rotary Club
Member, Rutland Italian-American Club
Past Board Member, Rutland ARC (Advocacy, Resources, Community serving the mentally handicapped).
Youth Soccer Coach, Lothrop Elementary School (2018 & 2019)
Youth Soccer Coach, Christ the King Middle School (2021)
Licensed U.S. Soccer Referee (2022-present)