Attorneys

Since joining Kring & Chung LLP on May 8, 2006, Mr. Reynolds has taken on a full range of cases representing both Plaintiffs and Defendants.  Last year, Mr. Reynolds, in coordination with other attorneys at Kring and Chung, recovered $7,285,000 on behalf of some of the firm’s Plaintiff clients.  On the Defense side, in 2009, Mr. Reynolds wrote a single motion wherein the Court dismissed $1,700,000 in claims brought against his client. 

While Mr. Reynolds enjoys, and has been successful, in numerous areas of law ranging from intellectual property, personal injury, construction, and fraud, his passion, and current emphasis, is in his work with fraud, performance (energy) contracting, and construction particularly involving school districts as well as business litigation.  In the arena of school district litigation, Mr. Reynolds has successfully handled claims involving issues of energy contracting, performance contracting, public contracting, construction, public bidding and the Division of State Architecture. 

Growing up in a small rural town in Ohio, Matthew dreamed of becoming a successful litigator.  He accomplished this dream by graduating Summa Cum Laude from Youngstown State University in 1998 with a 3.97 grade point average which was achieved by obtaining straight A's with a single B, which he still regrets, in a physiology and anatomy class.  Based on his grade point average combined with a score on his LSAT which placed him in the top two percent of the country, Mr. Reynolds had his pick of law schools throughout the nation.  On a visit to Pepperdine University, he fell in love with the campus and Southern California.  Therefore, he accepted a full scholarship to Pepperdine and again excelled in his studies. By 2001, he graduated near the top of his class, Cum Laude, and received awards for the top grade in his classes involving Constitutional Law, Labor Law, Products Liability, and Criminal Law.
 
In 2001, Mr. Reynolds began his legal career at Morrow & White with the goal of learning how to become a successful litigator.  Over the next four years, he experienced a broad spectrum of cases including legal malpractice, products liability, toxic torts, personal injury, catastrophic injury, fraud, wrongful death, contracts, business, insurance and construction.  While Mr. Reynolds thoroughly enjoyed his work at Morrow & White, and will be forever indebted to them for proving his start in the legal community, he was searching for work that he could be passionate about.

Mr. Reynolds found this passion on May 8, 2006 when he joined the law firm of Kring and Chung.  While he has worked on, and enjoyed, a broad spectrum of litigation matters including torts, contracts, and trademark, his focus became performance contracting, energy, construction, and fraud particularly on behalf of school districts as well as business litigation.  The issues he has resolved on behalf of school districts involve fraud, performance contracting, energy contracting, Division of State Architect, the Education Code and construction.

SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS OF 2009
Mr. Reynolds was one of three associates, as well as Mr. Kring, who spent the majority of his time in 2009 working on behalf of Plaintiff school districts.  The following is a listing of that group’s successes in 2009 as well as Mr. Reynolds successes in business litigation.  

School District Energy Contracting Litigation - Plaintiff - October 2009
Mr. Reynolds was the handling attorney on a case where our school district client entered into a Performance (Energy) Contract in 2001 in the amount of $2,000,000 that guaranteed that energy savings would pay for the cost of construction over a ten year period.  Construction included work on ceilings, HVAC units, and lighting.  Through discovery and investigation, our firm uncovered issues relating to construction, potential fraud, and underperformance of the energy guarantee.  The case was venued in San Bernardino Superior Court.  The result was a settlement on behalf of our client in the amount of $1,735,000 plus a debt forgiveness of $384,000 resulting in a net benefit of $2,119,000. 

School District Litigation - Plaintiff - March 2009
Mr. Reynolds was the handling attorney on a case involving a school district that entered into an energy contract wherein a construction company guaranteed that energy savings would pay for the cost of the contract over a ten year period.  The District brought allegations of fraud, breach of contract, and construction defects.  The case was venued in Bakersfield.  The result was a settlement on behalf of the school district in the amount of $1,350,000.

School District Litigation - Plaintiff - July 2009
Mr. Reynolds worked with a team of attorneys on a case involving a Performance Contract entered into by a school district.  The district alleged that the work done pursuant to this contract was defective, that it was fraudulently induced to enter into the contract, and the savings guaranteed failed to materialize.  The case was venued in Bakersfield.  The result was a settlement on behalf of the school district in the amount of $1,300,000.
 
Business Litigation - Defense - August 2009
Mr. Reynolds was part of a trial team that reduced a jury verdict from over $3,000,000 to $328,752.  The case was venued in San Francisco.  In 2008, a San Francisco jury found a business liable for damages in excess of $3,000,000.  After a motion for new trial was granted, in 2009, Mr. Reynolds became part of a trial team task with reducing this award.  The trial team was able to reduce the award by nearly 90%.

Business Litigation - Defense - July 2009
In this action, our client was accused of fraud in production faulty construction material that allegedly resulted in construction defects in hundreds of homes.  Plaintiff, an installer of the product, made allegations of several million dollars including recovery of all costs associated with fixing the individual homes.  Mr. Reynolds prepared a motion to the Court proving that the damages were speculative.  The Court granted the motion and dismissed the claim of damages as to the individual homeowners.  The motion removed in excess of $1,700,000 in damages.

School District Litigation - Plaintiff - January 2009
Mr. Reynolds worked with a team of attorneys on a case involving a school district that entered into an energy contract wherein a construction company guaranteed that energy savings would pay for the cost of the contract over a ten year period.  The district brought allegations of fraud, breach of contract, and construction defects.  The case was venued in Bakersfield.  The result was a settlement on behalf of the school district in the amount of $1,500,000.

School District Litigation - Plaintiff - March 2009
Mr. Reynolds worked with a team of attorneys on a case involving a school district that entered into an energy contract wherein a construction company guaranteed that energy savings would pay for the cost of the contract over a ten year period.  The District brought allegations of fraud, breach of contract, and construction defects.  The case was venued in Bakersfield.  The result was a settlement on behalf of the school district in the amount of $850,000.