Matthew L. Tuccillo joined Pomerantz in 2011 and was named Partner in December 2013. With 20 years of experience, he has been a 2016 – 2019 Super Lawyers® “Top-Rated Securities Litigation Attorney,” a Thompson Reuters recognition given to just 5% of eligible New York Metro attorneys. He made the 2019 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers list. He was Lawyer Monthly’s 2018 Lawyer of the Year (U.S.A.) in the Federal Tort category, based on significance of legal matters, case value, legal expertise, innovation in client care, activity level, and peer recognition. He was also a 2018 New York honoree in the National Trial Lawyers’ Class Action Trial Lawyers Association Top 25 and in America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators®. Since 2016, he has been a recommended securities litigator by The Legal 500, based on cutting edge, innovative work, client feedback, practitioner interviews, and independent research. Since 2014, he has maintained Martindale-Hubbell’s highest-available AV® Preeminent™ peer rating, scoring 5.0 out of 5.0 in Securities Law, Securities Class Actions, and Securities Litigation while being described as a “First class, top flight lawyer, especially in complex litigation.” His advocacy has been widely covered by Bloomberg, Law360, the Houston Chronicle, the Hartford Business Journal, and other outlets.
He is responsible, on an ongoing basis, for the Firm’s litigation of numerous securities fraud class actions pending nationwide, currently including: Edwards v. McDermott Int’l, Inc., No. 4:18-cv-4330-AB (S.D. Tex.) and Chun v. Fluor Corp., et al., No. 3:18-cv-01338-S (N.D. Tex.).
Mr. Tuccillo is lead litigator on the Firm’s securities fraud lawsuits arising from BP’s 2010 Gulf oil spill, pending in Multidistrict Litigation 2185, In re BP p.l.c. Secs. Litig., No. 4:10-md-2185 (S.D. Tex.). He successfully opposed three rounds of motions to dismiss the claims of 100+ institutional investors, drawing the court’s praise for the “quality of lawyering,” which it called “uniformly excellent.” In doing so, he secured some of the Firm’s most ground-breaking rulings:
• He successfully argued that foreign and domestic investors had asserted viable “holder claims” seeking to recover investment losses due to their retention of already-owned shares in reliance upon the fraud, a theory barred under U.S. federal securities laws since Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores, 421 U.S. 723 (1975), in what is believed to be the first ruling by a U.S. court sustaining the theory under English common law.
• He successfully argued against forum non conveniens dismissal, obtaining the first ruling after the Supreme Court’s decision in Morrison v. Nat’l Australia Bank Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869 (2010) to permit foreign investors pursuing foreign law claims to seek recovery for losses on a foreign stock exchange in a U.S. court.
• He successfully argued that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (SLUSA), which extinguishes U.S. state law claims in deference to the U.S. federal securities laws, should not be extended to foreign common law claims being pursued by both domestic and foreign investors.
Mr. Tuccillo also fulfills Pomerantz’s roles on the Plaintiffs Steering Committee and serves as sole Liaison with BP and the Court. The Firm’s BP clients include 32 public and private pension funds, investment management firms, LPs, and investment trusts from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, the Netherlands, and Australia, seeking recovery for losses in BP’s securities traded on the NYSE and the London Stock Exchange.
As the Firm’s lead litigator in In re Toronto-Dominion Bank Securities Litigation, No. 1:17-cv-01735 (D.N.J.), Mr. Tuccillo relied on extensive confidential witness statements from former employees to successfully defeated a motion to dismiss by one of Canada’s largest banks in an action alleging a multi-year fraud arising from underlying retail banking misconduct, such as unauthorized bank accounts and transactions, that was revealed by investigative news reports. He negotiated a $13.25 million class-wide settlement that was approved by the court.
As the Firm’s lead litigator in Perez v. Higher One Holdings, Inc., et al., No. 14-cv-00755-AWT (D. Conn.), Mr. Tuccillo persuaded the court, after initial dismissal, to uphold a 2nd amended complaint asserting five distinct fraud by an education funding company and its executives. Among other rulings, court agreed that the company’s reported financial and operating results violated Regulation S-K, Item 303, 17 C.F.R. §229.303, for failure to disclose known trends regarding underlying misconduct and its impacts on reported results – a rare ruling absent an accounting restatement. He negotiated a $7.5 million class-wide settlement that was approved by the court.
As the Firm’s lead litigator in In re KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 15-cv-05841 (N.D. Cal.), Mr. Tuccillo negotiated two court-approved class-wide settlements worth over $3.25 million in the aggregate, from a bankrupt pharmaceutical company, its jailed former CEO, and two separate D&O insurers. Significantly, he secured payments of cash and stock directly from the bankrupt company, which also required bankruptcy court approval.
As the Firm’s lead litigator in In re Silvercorp Metals, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 1:12-cv-09456 (S.D.N.Y.), Mr. Tuccillo worked closely with mining, accounting, damages, and market efficiency experts to defeat a motion to dismiss and oversee discovery in a securities class action involving a Canadian company with mining operations in China and stock traded on the NYSE. After two mediations, the case was resolved for a $14 million all-cash fund. In granting final approval of the settlement, Judge Rakoff noted that the case was “unusually complex,” given the technical nature of mining metrics, the need to compare mining standards in Canada, China, and the U.S., and the volume of Chinese-language evidence requiring translation.
Mr. Tuccillo’s prior casework also includes litigation and resolution of complex disputes over roll ups of consulting companies and of commercial real estate interests. At Pomerantz, he was on the multi-firm team that litigated and settled In re Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. Investor Litig., No. 650607/2012 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.), representing investors in public and private commercial real estate interests against the long-term lessees/operators, the Malkin family and the Estate of Leona Helmsley, regarding a proposed consolidation, REIT formation, and IPO centered around New York’s iconic Empire State Building. These efforts achieved broad relief for the class, including a $55 million cash/securities settlement fund, a restructured deal creating a $100 million tax benefit, expansive remedial disclosures, and important deal protections.
Mr. Tuccillo regularly counsels institutional investors, both foreign and domestic, regarding pending or contemplated complex litigation in the U.S. He has extensive experience collaborating with outside investment management firms retained by clients to uncover evidence supporting securities claims. His investigative skills enable Mr. Tuccillo to identify potential securities frauds early, regularly providing clients with the first opportunity to evaluate and pursue. When litigation is filed, he oversees its conduct and resolution, counseling clients throughout. These skills have enabled him to sign numerous institutional clients for litigation and portfolio monitoring services, including public and private pension plans, investment management firms and sponsored investment vehicles, from both the U.S. and abroad.
Before joining Pomerantz, Mr. Tuccillo began his career at a large full-service Boston firm, litigating primarily for corporate clients. He also worked at plaintiff-side firms in Boston and Connecticut, litigating securities, consumer, and wage and hour class actions, as well as complex sale of business disputes. He has negotiated many multi-million dollar settlements, through both mediation and direct negotiation. His pro bono work includes securing Social Security benefits for a veteran suffering from non-service-related disabilities.
Mr. Tuccillo graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1999, where he made the Dean’s List. He competed on and later coached Georgetown’s award-winning team in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, was Foreign Publications Editor of the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, and participated in Georgetown’s top-ranked clinical program, representing the Mattaponi Tribe in its fight to block a Virginia dam project on ancestral burial grounds.
Prior to that, he was a 1995 graduate of Wesleyan University. As an alumnus, he has devoted considerable time to Wesleyan’s pre-law programs, co-authoring and periodically updating its pre-law student guidebook, serving on numerous panels, and counseling students interested in a legal career. He is the current President of the Wesleyan Lawyers Association, after previously serving terms as Secretary, Executive Board member, and Steering Committee member.
Mr. Tuccillo takes great pride in representing union clients. He got his own union card as a teenager (United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, Local 371), following in the footsteps of his grandfather (International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 560).
Mr. Tuccillo volunteers his time running his children’s award-winning elementary school and middle school chess clubs, whose 100+ members compete in external tournaments, participate in goodwill exchanges to spread the game to other children, and won 2018 and 2019 State Championships.