Cedro, Alfred M

Matt Catalano is a shareholder and the current section head of the Firm's Health Care Law Section.  He is also a member of the  Firm's Litigation Section and Employment Law Litigation Group. His practice primarily consists of General Commercial Litigation, Oil and Gas Litigation, Personal Injury/Insurance Defense/MedMal Litigation, Health Care Law, and Governmental Entity Defense. Matt is a member of both the State Bar of Texas and the State Bar of New Mexico and is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Western District, Southern District and Northern District of Texas, and the U.S. District Court of New Mexico. He is a past Vice-President of the Midland County Young Lawyers Association and is a member of the Midland County Bar Association, the Texas Association of Defense Counsel, the Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and the American Health Lawyers Association.

AREAS OF CONCENTRATION

Commercial Litigation

The largest part of Matt's practice involves successfully representing a wide variety of businesses, both as plaintiffs and defendants, in commercial litigation. Matt has successfully represented clients on breach of contract lawsuits, partnership and corporate/shareholder disputes, collection matters, products liability, commercial tort/DTPA lawsuits, fiduciary duty and non-complete matters, and has tried several of these matters to juries, resulting in favorable verdicts for the Firm's clients.

Oil and Gas Litigation

Matt devotes a substantial portion of his practice to representing clients involved in oil and gas related disputes.  On behalf of both corporate and individual clients, he both prosecutes and defends suits involving operating agreements, unit agreements, master service agreements, right of way acquisition and condemnation actions, surface use issues, and royalty payment disputes.

Personal Injury/Insurance Defense/MedMal Defense

Matt also devotes a large part of his practice to defending clients who have been sued in cases involving personal injuries, such as oil field injuries, on the job accidents, and automobile or trucking accidents. Matt represents several mid to large-sized insurance companies and their insureds in all aspects of personal injury lawsuits including claims investigation, pretrial discovery, and trial representation. He has also successfully defended many physicians, hospitals and medical entities in medical malpractice lawsuits, both in the pretrial discovery phase of the lawsuit and at trial. Matt has received multiple favorable jury verdicts on personal injury matters.

Health Care and Governmental Entity Litigation

Matt has the privilege of representing governmental entities and health care providers, including municipalities, hospitals, physicians and nurses, on a variety of litigation matters.  He has successfully represented governmental entities and their employees in a variety of civil lawsuits, including contractual claims and injury claims invoking the Texas Tort Claims Act.  He has tried several medical malpractice matters to jury with favorable outcomes to his clients, and he regularly represents healthcare providers in all forms of civil litigation.

While serving in the United States Air Force as a Russian Cryptologic Linguist, Matt received an Associates Degree in Instructional Technology from the Community College of the Air Force. He also completed an intensive one-year Russian language course at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.

Matt received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, in government from the University of Texas at Austin in 1995. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law in 1998. While in law school, Matt was a member of the American Journal of Criminal Law.