Matthew K. Crane

Matt serves as lead trial and appellate counsel in complex commercial disputes. He represents clients on both the defense side and the plaintiff side, and his practice cuts across a range of business segments from technology to healthcare to manufacturing. He has litigated a variety of substantive claims, spanning contract breach and quasi-contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, fiduciary breach, products liability, toxic tort, the False Claims Act, the Lanham Act, and anti-trust & competition.

Matt handles cases from beginning to end, including strategizing and managing the litigation, serving as trial counsel, and briefing and arguing appeals.  His clients are major corporations, small businesses and business-owners, and individuals. In addition to Missouri, his commercial litigation experience involves disputes in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.

In recent years, Matt has helped obtain judgments, awards, and settlements for plaintiffs for millions of dollars and has helped secure dismissals for defendants in cases involving claimed damages of seven-, eight-, and nine-figures. His practice has involved multiple widely publicized disputes, both on the plaintiff side and on the defendant side, including assisting St. Louis’ litigation against the National Football League and the Rams relating to the Rams’ relocation to Los Angeles, which resulted in a $790,000,000 settlement for St. Louis, and defending Anheuser-Busch against Lanham Act and other claims brought by Molson Coors relating to Bud Light’s Superbowl LVII advertising, which resulted in summary judgment dismissal in favor of Anheuser-Busch. Matt was recognized by Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” in business litigation every year from 2018 through 2022, and he received the “Up & Coming” award from Missouri Lawyers Weekly in 2017.

Prior to joining Dowd Bennett, Matt clerked for the Honorable Laura Denvir Stith of the Supreme Court of Missouri.

Representative Matters

• Trial counsel for technology services company in contract breach and misappropriation case in Missouri state court.
• Trial counsel for Fortune 1000 ride share company in products liability and wrongful death cases in Missouri state and federal court.
• Trial counsel for commercial bakery in toxic tort case in Missouri state court.
• Trial counsel for manufacturing company in Lanham Act and anti-trust case in Texas federal court.
• Trial counsel for Fortune 500 steel producer in catastrophic injury case in Texas federal court.
• Obtained seven-figure arbitration award in full amount of requested damages for seller on contract claim arising out of stock purchase agreement. Also recovered all attorneys’ fees and costs.
• Obtained early-stage dismissal with prejudice of product liability and wrongful death claims for Fortune 500 company in the Western District of North Carolina.
• Obtained dismissals on behalf of Fortune 500 company for lack of personal jurisdiction in multiple district courts on products liability claims.
• Obtained judgment and permanent injunction in Missouri federal court on unfair competition and trademark infringement claims on behalf of Forbes Top 100 privately held company.
• Represented St. Louis against the Rams and the National Football League related to the club’s relocation to Los Angeles, which resulted in a $790 million settlement for St. Louis.
• Represented Anheuser-Busch in defense of Lanham Act claims brought by Molson Coors seeking to enjoin Bud Light’s Super Bowl commercials. Summary judgment was entered in favor of Anheuser-Busch on all counts.
• Obtained a $2.6 million judgment in trial of contract dispute in St. Louis County Circuit Court. The judgment was affirmed on appeal.
• Obtained summary judgment in Alabama in minority-member “freeze out” governance dispute, resulting in our client obtaining majority control of LLC.
• Assisted with trial, briefing, and motion practice of breach of fiduciary duty claims against a bank that resulted in a $77,866,033.81 jury verdict in favor of our client, which was reported as being the largest plaintiff’s verdict in the history of St. Louis County Circuit Court.
• Represented a global healthcare company in the Northern District of Alabama against claims brought under the False Claims Act seeking damages in excess of $400,000,000. Summary judgment was entered in favor of our client on all FCA counts.
• Obtained dismissal of contract and quasi-contract claims seeking more than $14,800,000 in the Eastern District of Missouri.
• Achieved early-stage dismissal of breach of contract and veil-piercing claims in the Western District of Pennsylvania.