August J. Matteis, Jr. represents corporate plaintiffs in complex commercial litigations and trials across the country. Mr. Matteis often represents companies that have suffered damages from theft of intellectual property, fraud, unfair business practices, and breach of contract. Mr. Matteis also represents whistleblowers and other individual plaintiffs in cases involving fraud and discrimination.

Current representative matters include:

• Serving as lead counsel in In re Outsidewall Tire Litigation, 09-cv-1217, and obtaining a $26 million jury verdict on behalf of Alpha Mining Systems, a Florida-based tire designer and distributor. In October 2009, Alpha filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia against a tire distributor from Dubai and a tire manufacturer from China for stealing Alpha’s intellectual property, including blueprints, related to specialized underground mining tires that were designed and developed by the plaintiff. Just eight months later, a jury found that the defendants were liable for copyright and trademark infringement, conversion and civil conspiracy. The verdict is one of the largest individual copyright infringement awards in U.S. history, and one of the largest verdicts of any type in Virginia over the past several years.

• Serving as lead counsel representing whistleblowers in a qui tam False Claims Act case against one of the largest insurance companies in the nation. The whistleblowers, Kerri and Cori Rigsby, managed claims adjusters who adjusted Hurricane Katrina property damage claims for State Farm. They allege that the insurer committed fraud against the U.S. government by improperly shifting losses under its homeowner’s policy onto government-issued flood policies by mischaracterizing damage caused by wind as flood damage. The whistleblowers prevailed at a summary judgment evidentiary hearing, and the case is set for a jury trial in the Southern District of Mississippi in December 2010.

• Representing a number of doctors in a class action against a life insurance company for breaching the terms of their so-called vanishing premium life insurance policies.

• Representing public interest groups and individuals in litigation brought against major hotel and retail chains for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Prior to joining Gilbert LLP in 2001, Mr. Matteis was a litigation and employment associate in the Washington, DC office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

• Financial Reform Bill Includes Significant New Incentives for Whistleblowers, September 3, 2010
• State Farm Qui Tam Suit Over Flood Claims Survives, Law360, August 12, 2009
• Closing Protection Letters: Important Tools for Protecting Mortgage-backed Assets, March 2009
• Court Holds That Insurer Cannot Disclaim Coverage on Grounds Not Included in Its Initial Disclaimer, March 1, 2009
• Insurance Coverage for Contractors' Asbestos Liabilities: Key Settlement Issues, NIA News, January 2008
• Non-Products Coverage for Contractors' Asbestos Liabilities, NIA News, August 2007
• New York Court Finds That Aggregate Limits Do Not Apply To Asbestos Installation, Mealy's Litigation Report, June 14, 2007

• Mealey's Asbestos Insurance Teleconference: Where We Stand in Light of Keasbey, August 7, 2007

• $26M Verdict by Virginia Jury is One of the Largest Individual Copyright Infringement Awards in U.S. History, July 22, 2010
• $26M verdict returned in trade-secret case, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, July 22, 2010
• Most Of Conseco Class Action Survives Bid To Toss, Law 360, July 31, 2009
• Gilbert Randolph Files File-Sharing Class Action Against Comcast, Legal Times, July 22, 2008
• Gilbert Randolph LLP Welcomes Returning Litigation Partner, June 8, 2007
• On the Move, Legal Times, January 19, 2004