Stites & Harbison, PLLC

Matthew W. Breetz

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Mr. Breetz has a sophisticated trial practice and regularly appears in courtrooms across Kentucky and Tennessee. He is the team leader for the firm's Professional Liability Practice Group. He also serves as co-chairman of the firm's Ethics Committee.  Matt is AV^®-rated with Martindale Hubbell Law Directory and is listed in Kentucky Super Lawyers 2009-11 magazine.

He defends numerous professionals—including lawyers, nurses, accountants, nursing home administrators, medical professionals of all varieties, engineers, title agents, architects, home inspectors, insurance agents and brokers—in professional malpractice suits throughout the region. Mr. Breetz has a significant premises liability practice defending a national chain of restaurants throughout the state. He has significant experience in coordinating the defense of hundreds of complex toxic tort cases throughout Kentucky. Mr. Breetz also handles a wide variety of cases against banks, credit unions and other lending institutions.  Mr. Breetz is also well versed in cases involving motor carrier litigation and has lectured on the subject.

Recent Assignments

• Obtained an Opinion from the Kentucky Court of Appeals affirming summary judgment for an insurance agent and agency who were alleged to have been negligent in procuring commercial insurance coverage for a new client of the agency.  The issues involved UIM coverage for a truck under a commercial policy, and whether the truck should have been insured under the client's personal policy.
• Tried a nursing home case, for almost two weeks, in Eastern Kentucky, settling well under his client’s position at mediation after obtaining directed verdicts on claims of statutory violations and claims for punitive damages
• Obtained a dismissal of all RICO claims asserted by the plaintiff before the United States District Court of Kentucky, Eastern District, that were asserted against a mortgage lender in a case involving yield spread premiums
• Briefed, argued and obtained a successful result from the Kentucky Supreme Court which affirmed the dismissal via summary judgment of a legal malpractice claim due to the improper assignment of the claim
• Obtained a decision from the Kentucky Court of Appeals affirming a summary judgment obtained in a complex legal malpractice case involving alleged transactional negligence. The decision was based primarily on the Plaintiff's inability to satisfy the "but for" causation requirement.
• Argued and won a case before the Kentucky Supreme Court on issues related to arbitration waiver. The Supreme Court granted discretionary review and reversed decisions from the trial court and Court of Appeals on the issues raised.
• In a published decision, had a motion to dismiss granted on behalf of a private prison company in a case where an inmate escaped and allegedly caused harm to others.
• Successfully excluded the plaintiff's sole expert witness in a complex accounting malpractice case less than a week before trial.
• Obtained summary judgment for contractor/engineer in two separate counts on the "government contractor" defense, the first of its kind in Kentucky.
• Mr. Breetz has tried about thirty jury trials.

Recent Speaking Engagements and Publications

• "Professional Liability and the Restatement of the Law : What is it Restating?," DRI's Professional Liability Seminar, New York, NY, December 15, 2011
• "Judgmental Immunity for Lawyers," Harmonie Group Professional Liability Seminar, New York, NY, May 13, 2010
• "Defending Legal Malpractice Claims," DRI's Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute, Chicago, Ill., April 6, 2010
• "Estate Planning—Being Sued by Persons You Never Met for Things Your Client Did Not Ask You to Do," Legal Malpractice Risk Management Conference, Chicago, February 27, 2008
• "The Uncertainties in Trial Practice," co-authored with Andrew G. Beshear, Defense Research Institute's For the Defense, March 2007
• "Prevention and Risk Control," The Harmonie Group's Transportation Industry Seminar, Denver, Colo., November 1, 2006
• "Crossing State Lines - Ethical and Malpractice Issues Arising From Multi-Jurisdictional Practice," Defense Research Institute's Annual Meeting, San Francisco, Calif., October 12, 2006
• "Ethical Considerations for the Defense Lawyer," Kentucky Defense Counsel, August 31, 2006
• "Choice of Jurisdictions," The Harmonie Group Transportation and Trucking Seminar, Chicago, Ill., February 22, 2006
• "Legal Malpractice Issues Involving Estate Planners," Annual Midwest/Midsouth Estate Planning Institute, University of Kentucky, July 21, 2005
• "Legal Malpractice: Negligent Settlement Advice," Harmonie Group's Spring Conference, May 13, 2005
• "State and National Activity in Nursing Home Litigation," Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities, April 19, 2005
• "The Strict Privity Rule: A Limit on Estate Planner Liability," For the Defense, published by Defense Research Institute, Feb. 2004
• "Grounds for Indemnity on Foreign Sourced Products," Defense Research Institute Product Liability Conference, Children's Products Session, Feb. 10, 2004
• "Nursing Home Malpractice in Kentucky: Successful Case Management from Investigation to Trial," National Business Institute, Oct. 23, 2003
• "Recent Kentucky Ethics Opinions and Judicial Decisions Concerning Ethical Issues," Louisville Bar Association, June 26, 2003
• "Pitfalls with Experts: Turning Your Work Product Into Evidence," Real Evidence for the Trial Practitioner in Kentucky, Lorman Education Services, Feb. 6, 2003
• "Experts and Daubert," Real Evidence for the Trial Practitioner in Kentucky, Lorman Education Services, Feb. 6, 2003

More Than Stites & Harbison

Matt is a member of the Board of Directors for Southeast American Board of Trial Advocates and is a member of the Prichard Committee on Academic Excellence.

Besides Stites & Harbison

Matt lives and dies University of Kentucky football, when his wife and four kids give him the opportunity.