Matthew Lilly is the managing partner of Finlayson Toffer Roosevelt & Lilly LLP. Mr. Lilly joined the firm in 2010. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Lilly practiced for eight years in the Orange County office of Gibson Dunn.
PRACTICE
Mr. Lilly represents clients in a wide variety of commercial litigation matters. Mr. Lilly’s clients conduct business in an array of industries, including commercial lending, construction/recycling, consulting, insurance, retail sales, and many others. Mr. Lilly has experience representing clients in connection with contract disputes, shareholder disputes, unfair competition law claims, real estate and construction litigation, and several other types of commercial litigation. In these capacities, Mr. Lilly has represented clients in state and federal courts throughout the country, as well as in arbitration proceedings, and has appeared before the SEC.
EXPERIENCE
A representative sample of Mr. Lilly’s experience includes:
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Represented a seller of life insurance in a lawsuit filed by two insureds, based on the insureds’ surrender of the policy at issue. The plaintiffs sought more than $3 million in damages and asserted claims for elder abuse, fraud, Insurance Code violations, violation of California’s unfair competition law, and breach of fiduciary duty. A portion of the plaintiffs’ complaint was dismissed at the pleading stage, and the remaining claims were dismissed after discovery.
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Represented a health care company in a lawsuit filed by the inventor of eye care technology underlying a patent that had been licensed to the defendant. The plaintiff-inventor sought up to $15 million in damages. After extensive fact and expert discovery, all of the plaintiff’s claims were dismissed on summary judgment.
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Represented Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee in a series of adversary proceedings against former officers and directors of the debtor, as well as other defendants. The adversary proceedings resulted in approximately $3 million paid to the bankruptcy estate.
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Represented life insurer in a lawsuit filed by a plaintiff who alleged that he was sold two unsuitable life insurance policies through an illegal marketing scheme. Plaintiff sought $2 million in damages. After nearly six years of litigation, the case was dismissed in Mr. Lilly's client's favor on summary judgment.
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Represented a medical device manufacturer in a construction defect dispute initiated by a general contractor seeking payment of $600,000 in outstanding invoices. The matter proceeded to an arbitration hearing. The arbitrator ruled in favor of the defendant, and ordered the general contractor to return $27,000 that had already been paid by the defendant.
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Represented several steel fabrication/erection companies in a breach of contract case arising out of a public works construction project. The plaintiff sought $300,000 based on allegations that he was owed a commission for bringing the project to the defendants. A portion of the plaintiff’s claims was dismissed on summary judgment, and the plaintiff ultimately accepted $20,000 in exchange for a dismissal of the remaining claims.
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Mr. Lilly regularly represents commercial lenders in lawsuits alleging claims arising out of the California Commercial Code.
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Represented an individual lender in a case filed against a defendant law firm/escrow holder, alleging that the defendant wrongfully disbursed loan proceeds to its client without the lender’s prior authorization. The case resulted in a $145,000 judgment in favor of Mr. Lilly’s client.
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Represented a construction cleanup/recycling company in a “bet the company” case that was filed by a subcontractor alleging breach of contract for nonpayment of invoices. After several months of litigation, including counterclaims asserted by Mr. Lilly’s client, the case was settled for pennies on the dollar.
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Represented former co-owner of a beauty salon in two separate lawsuits filed by the other co-owners – one state court action and one arbitration. Judgment was entered in favor of Mr. Lilly’s client, including awards of attorneys’ fees, in both actions.
Matthew E. Lilly
Practices Commercial Litigation
EDUCATION
UCLA 2001
School of Law Juris Doctor
University of California, 1995
Irvine Bachelor of Arts
ADMISSIONS
California
U.S. District Court
Central District of California
U.S. District Court
Eastern District of California
U.S. District Court
Northern District of California
U.S. District Court
Southern District of California
U.S. Court of Appeals
Ninth Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court
EDUCATION
Mr. Lilly received his law degree in 2001 from UCLA School of Law. At UCLA School of Law, he was the Chief Comments Editor of the UCLA Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif, which is awarded to the top 10% of the graduating class. While earning his law degree, Mr. Lilly was a recipient of the Italian American Lawyers Association Scholarship, Gail McKinney-Wheat Scholarship, and Curtis B. Danning Scholarship. Mr. Lilly earned a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine in 1995.
MEMBERSHIPS & AFFILIATIONS
Mr. Lilly is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in the State of California, and the United States Supreme Court.
COMMUNITY
Mr. Lilly is a former member and chairman of the Board of Directors for The Raise Foundation, and in 2017 was the recipient of the organization's Deserving of Praise award. Serving Orange County families since 1974, The Raise Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing child abuse.
Mr. Lilly is a former participant in the Orange County District Attorney’s Trial Attorney Partnership program. Mr. Lilly single-chaired misdemeanor jury trials as part of the program (all of which resulted in guilty verdicts), and felony preliminary hearings (all of which resulted in the defendant being held over for trial).