Matthew D. Anderson

(802) 775-7141

Biography

I grew up in the village of Brandon and graduated from Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Rutland and 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, a gritty Boston neighborhood with lots of character and some affordable housing. I turned a “temp” job at Sun Life of Canada into a full time position collaborating with stockbrokers to execute qualified IRC 1035 tax-free annuity exchanges under time pressure. Approximately two years after graduating from UVM I went on to the College of William and Mary Marshall-Wythe law school in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Legal Experience

After law school I returned home 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. Together we represented dozens of lawyers, motorists, property owners and businesses in high dollar value cases. 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 several cases to jury verdict as first chair counsel.

In 2013 I joined Pratt Vreeland “Of Counsel” and in 2014 I became a principal. As of this writing approximately half of my practice is devoted to personal injury litigation arising from automobile and premises accidents. 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. Another substantial portion of my litigation practice concerns claims of professional malpractice, and I do that work on behalf of both professionals and clients of professionals. In addition, I regularly collaborate with Jack Kennelly on the firm’s busy commercial litigation practice.

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
Member, Rutland Italian-American Club
Past Board Member, Rutland ARC (Advocacy, Resources, Community serving the mentally handicapped)