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Matthew S. Krauss

​Matthew Krauss is a partner at WMC who represents plaintiffs in complex civil and commercial litigation. His practice frequently involves insurance coverage matters, including both traditional coverage disputes and related cases stemming from insurers’ failure to pay claims properly. He also represents plaintiffs in a range of civil matters involving breach of contract, fraud, and bad faith. His representative matters include:

• Representing the State of Mississippi in Mississippi ex rel. Fitch v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., No. 15-221 (Miss. Cir. Ct. Hinds Cnty.), and a series of related cases involving insurers’ underpayment of Hurricane Katrina homeowner insurance claims that caused Mississippi to pay millions of dollars through its Homeowner Assistance Program for losses that insurers should have covered. Successful settlements in these cases total more than $8.5 million and will help to fund Mississippi’s ongoing Katrina recovery programs.
  
  
• Representing federal whistleblowers in United States ex rel. Rigsby v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., No. 06-433 (S.D. Miss.), which involves State Farm’s fraudulent mischaracterization of Hurricane Katrina wind damage as flood damage, causing federal flood insurance policies to pay for losses that State Farm should have compensated. Mr. Krauss represented these whistleblowers on appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States in State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. United States ex rel. Rigsby, 137 S. Ct. 436 (2016), which resulted in a unanimous decision in the relators’ favor.
  
  
• Represented more than 1,000 New York and New Jersey homeowners in agency adjudication and federal litigation about FEMA’s underpayment of Hurricane Sandy federal flood insurance claims. Mr. Krauss discussed WMC’s work and the status of FEMA’s Hurricane Sandy Claims Review in a radio interview on At Central Jersey with Maggie Glynn.
  
  
• Represented television broadcasting company in antitrust investigation by U.S. Department of Justice.
  
  
• Represented homeowners pursuing federal flood insurance claims relating to Louisiana’s August 2016 Great Flood.
  
  
• Advised an international food company in insurance recovery efforts for claims and losses relating to property damage and product recalls.
  
  
• Advised a small business on an insurance coverage dispute involving hail damage.
  
  
• Advised a homeowners association on an insurance coverage dispute involving fire damage.
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• Represented homeowners in insurance coverage dispute involving mold contamination.

​Mr. Krauss graduated from Harvard Law School, where he served as Managing Editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review. He worked previously as an associate at Covington & Burling LLP, where he represented policyholders in litigating insurance disputes and bad faith claims and counseled clients in government investigations, compliance proceedings, and product recalls. He completed a six-month assignment at the Neighborhood Legal Services Program, where he represented low-income DC residents at trial and in administrative proceedings involving landlord-tenant, public benefits, and family law disputes. Before entering private practice, Mr. Krauss worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Patti B. Saris, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and former chair of the United States Sentencing Commission.

​(202) 751-2003 
mkrauss@wmclaw.com 
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Education

• J.D., Harvard Law School, magna cum laude (2009)
  
  
• B.A., Swarthmore College, with high honors, Phi Beta Kappa (2006)
  
  

Judicial Clerkship
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• Hon. Patti B. Saris, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (2009–2010)

Bar Memberships

• District of Columbia
• Massachusetts

Publications
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• Axioms for Supplementing the Administrative Record, Bloomberg BNA Federal Contracts Report, 95 FCR 242, March 1, 2011 (coauthor)