Matt J. Fletcher

Position: Partner
Locations: Orange County, CA, Los Angeles, CA

D: 949.332.3323
M: 949.293.0783

Email: matt.fletcher@tuckerellis.com
vCard: vcard
LinkedIn: LinkedIn

Matt Fletcher practices complex business litigation in trial, arbitration, mediation, and appellate court proceedings.

Matt handles state and federal court cases involving all types of business disputes, including shareholder and partnership disputes, fraud and breach of contract cases, real estate litigation, labor and employment litigation, business crisis management, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and even probate and trust disputes when coupled with an underlying family business dispute. Matt also provides strategic advice on how to avoid litigation, including working with corporate attorneys in structuring partnerships. He represents publicly traded companies, privately held corporations of all sizes, high-net-worth entrepreneurs and business owners, commercial and residential real estate developers, large retail-chain stores, trusts, utility companies, and public school districts, private schools, and universities.

A recipient of the Attorney of the Year Award from the Public Law Center, Matt devotes a significant portion of his free time to pro bono clients and local volunteer organizations. He currently serves on the Men’s Committee for the annual Rich Saul Memorial Golf Classic – the second-largest golf tournament in Orange County – which benefits Childhelp.

Matt was born in Akron, Ohio, but moved to California shortly after graduating from law school. He found immediate success in Orange County by teaming up with well-known trial lawyer Ed Connor. The firm became best known as Connor, Fletcher & Hedenkamp, LLP (CFH). After 23 years at CFH, Matt decided to combine forces with Tucker Ellis. Matt lives in South Orange County, where he enjoys spending time with his family.

Education: The University of Akron School of Law (J.D., 1999, magna cum laude; Akron Law Review, Editor-in-Chief); The University of Akron (B.S. in Accounting, 1996)

State Admissions: California, 1999

Federal Admissions: United States District Court, Central District of California; United States District Court, Southern District of California

Service Areas: Business Litigation; Real Estate; Labor & Employment

As lead trial counsel, obtained sudden dismissal of a high-profile lawsuit that Adventure Church filed against the owners of the Tower Theater property in Fresno, California, after defeating a preliminary injunction motion to halt the $6.5 million sale the historic property; subsequently won an anti-SLAPP motion dismissing Adventure Church’s tortious interference claim after Adventure Church sued the City of Fresno for buying the Tower Theater, seeking over $10 million in damages; ongoing issues are set for trial in March 2025
Served as lead counsel defending an entrepreneur featured on “Shark Tank” in a partnership dispute and obtained a favorable settlement for the client following depositions
Served as trial counsel in one of the most complicated probate and trust litigation cases in Orange County’s history, which stemmed from representing an owner of a closely held family business
Prosecuted an array of high-stakes corporate disputes, including fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, derivative shareholder disputes, corporate governance, and conversion claims, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in pretrial settlements
Represented an Orange County entrepreneur in a shareholder dispute following the sale of his business, succeeding against three prominent law firms, including the largest law firm in the world, when a settlement was reached during trial
Led a team of attorneys who proved that one of the country’s largest general contractors committed fraud by showing it had never intended to honor its contractual obligation to fix defective construction at its sole cost and expense; 18 months after the contractor rejected a settlement offer, it paid $6.175 million to the client to avoid a jury trial on the fraud claims
Obtained a major settlement victory of approximately $24 million for a school district client, including the complete enclosure of a garbage dump to keep students, teachers, and administrators protected from serious environmental impacts
Represented a large commercial real estate developer in defense of a specific performance action; aggressively defended the case and obtained a substantial attorney’s fee award for expunging the lis pendens and resulting in early settlement, allowing the client to proceed with the sale of the building to a third party
Secured a multimillion-dollar settlement for a family office in a dispute over a long-term ground lease, where the opposing side sued to invalidate the ground lease; as a result of a cross-complaint against the plaintiffs, the client received a settlement of approximately $10 million, recovering damages for the attempt to invalidate the lease and attorney’s fees
Represented an engineering limited liability company and two of its members in an ownership dispute with one of the former members; after 18 months of litigation, the case settled for $200,000 less than the client had offered to pay the plaintiff before the lawsuit was filed
In a fraud case against a development company, obtained a judgment in favor of the client and recovered $113,000 in attorney’s fees from the plaintiff
Defended fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims using successful deposition strategies that showed that the defendant had done nothing wrong; once the corporate assets were divided, the client realized a gain on his pre-litigation share of the corporate assets of more than $10 million
Secured a multimillion-dollar judgment following the prosecution of a wrongful termination claim in a nearly four-month jury trial
Obtained a $2 million settlement for a client in a contentious breach of contract action over performance and payment agreements
Successfully defended multimillion-dollar fraud and mortgage litigation actions, including a case in which the plaintiff alleged fraud and unfair business practices against the client – a national home-building company – and sought over $1 million in damages; after the depositions of key percipient witnesses, the plaintiff dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, and the client paid no money to the plaintiff
Prosecuted a trust litigation dispute on behalf of the trustees of a multimillion-dollar family trust; achieved a full settlement of the trust litigation that required the beneficiaries to confess the trustees had not breached their fiduciary duties, and then obtained a significant settlement against the trust’s attorney in the malpractice action
Defended a real estate developer in arbitration involving a dispute over the ownership of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of real estate; presented evidence to the Orange County Superior Court showing that the arbitrator had misrepresented his background to the parties, resulting in removal of the arbitrator and ultimately resulting in victory on all claims raised in the arbitration
Deeply involved in the prosecution of a land use dispute on behalf of two school districts; after extensive litigation, the clients received a settlement of more than $60 million

Speaking Engagements

“Client Confidentiality and the Difficulty Complying with Ethical Requirements in a Digital Age,” mylawcle.com (December 2022)
“New Statutes, New Rules, and New Cases: What Every Business Litigator Needs to Know in 2021,” Orange County Bar Association Business Litigation Section (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013)
“#COVID-19: What Lawyers Want You to Know,” Orange County Bar Association (May 2020)