Matt Nakajima
Practice Areas:
- Personal Injury - General 20%
- Personal Injury - Truck Wrecks 50%
- Personal Injury - Brain Injury 10%
- Personal Injury - Wrongful Death 10%
- Personal Injury - Car Accidents 10%
Biography
Matt Nakajima is a trial lawyer who stands with individuals and families touched by tragedy. After a catastrophic injury or the loss of a loved one, people are often left searching for answers, stability, and someone they can trust. Matt helps guide them through that uncertainty while holding those responsible accountable.
For nearly two decades, he has represented clients whose lives were permanently changed by negligence and corporate misconduct, taking on large corporations and insurance companies that refuse to accept responsibility. Matt understands that no amount of money can undo what has been taken—but he believes accountability and justice matter, both for his clients and for the safety of others.
Matt focuses his practice on catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases, including trucking and car collisions, defective products, insurance bad faith, and dangerous premises claims. He is known for meticulous preparation, creative trial strategy, and genuine, compassionate advocacy for the people he represents. Insurance companies know him as a lawyer who is prepared to take cases to trial when fairness is refused.
Throughout his career, Matt has secured more than forty-five verdicts and settlements of $1 million or more. Since 2025 alone, he has recovered over $120 million for his clients, including results of $28 million, $12 million, $11.25 million, $11 million, and $10 million. Several of these cases have resulted in nationwide safety changes, particularly in corporate negligence and trucking collision cases—helping prevent similar harm to others.
Many of Matt’s cases are ones others considered too difficult or unwinnable. When insurance companies refuse to make fair settlement offers, Matt is known for obtaining extraordinary results:
• $10,000,000 jury verdict (2026) in a medical negligence death case with a top offer of only $300,000;
• $6,000,000 jury verdict (2025) in a medical negligence case after the defense refused to make any settlement offer;
• $825,000 jury verdict (2021) in a disputed car crash case where the highest offer was $90,000;
• $3,000,000 jury verdict (2019) in a trip-and-fall case involving a fractured kneecap, after a pre-trial offer of $25,000;
• $1,028,317 jury verdict (2018) after rejecting a $20,000 offer for a serious shoulder injury.
Because of his courtroom experience and results, Matt is frequently invited to speak to trial lawyer organizations across the country on trial advocacy and litigation strategy. He has been recognized by his peers as a Super Lawyer and/or Rising Star every year since 2013.
Above all, Matt stands with his clients when it matters most—giving them a voice, standing up to powerful corporations, and securing results that help families move forward.
Education
- Northern Kentucky University, Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Highland Heights, Kentucky
- J.D. - 2008
- Honors: magna cum laude
- Law Review, N. KY L. Rev., Associate Editor, 2007, 2008
- Bellarmine University , Louisville, Kentucky
- B.A. - 2004
- Honors: cum laude
- Honors: Dean's List
- Honors: With High Honors
- Major: Economics
- Northern Kentucky University
- LL.D. - 2008
Bar Admission
- Ohio, 2009
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Ohio
- Kentucky, 2009
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana
- U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit
- Federal Claims Court
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Kentucky
- U.S. District Court Western District of Kentucky
Honors And Awards
- Recipient of the prestigious “Rising Star” award, Super Lawyers every year since 2013
- Top 40 under 40 attorneys for Kentucky and Ohio, National Trial Lawyers
- 10/10 Superb Avvo rating
Professional Associations
- The Ohio Association of Justice, Member, 2009 to Present
- The Kentucky Justice Associations, Board of Governor 2009-2016
- American Association of Justice , Member, 2009 to Present
- Ohio Trial Lawyers Association, Member, 2014 to Present
- The Kentucky Justice Associations, Member, 2009
Past Positions
- O'Connor Acciani & Levy, Attorney, 2014 to 2019
- The Sanders Law Firm, Attorney, 2009 to 2014
Languages
- English


