Michael Bonamarte

Michael F. Bonamarte IV is a skilled and passionate attorney who has achieved outstanding results in a number of high-profile nursing home, wrongful death, medical malpractice and personal injury cases. His commitment to his clients is rooted in a family legacy of love of the law and meaningful service to those in need, with a special respect and admiration for the elders that our society so often fails to honor.

After a successful high school football career as captain and starting varsity quarterback at Highland Park High School, Michael earned his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating with academic distinction. In 2005, he graduated from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, where he earned a place on the dean’s list during his second and third years. He joined Levin & Perconti as an associate attorney in August 2005 and in March 2014 was named Partner.

Michael is an effective and diligent attorney. In 2017 Michael and associate A.J. Thut obtained a $2.7 million jury verdict for the estate of a 67-year-old man who died from complications related to a fall at Southpoint Nursing Home on Chicago’s southside.

Michael also played a crucial role in a $7.5 million Illinois Record Jones Act Settlement recovered on behalf of a boat worker who was injured in an explosion. He has also recovered a $4.75 million medical malpractice settlement, a $2.325 million settlement of a pressure ulcer case against a Chicago assisted-living facility, a $1.8 million medical malpractice verdict, a $1.4 million settlement in a nursing home pressure sore lawsuit and a $1.25 million medical malpractice settlement against a dialysis center for its staff’s failure to monitor a resident’s dialysis catheter.

Even in his first jury trial, Michael, who sat second-chair to Steven Levin, achieved a $2.9 million verdict for the family of a deceased 57-year-old nursing home resident who suffocated due to the home’s negligent care of her tracheostomy tube. This was a record verdict in a Cook County nursing home case.

In addition to these settlements, Mike settled a construction accident case for $1.5 million, a $1 million nursing home pressure ulcer settlement and a premises liability/wrongful death case for $975,000 for the family of a young man who fell from a Chicago porch railing. He also achieved a record settlement of $700,000 in a case against a Coles County, IL, nursing home. Mike has also recovered a jury verdict of $552,000 for his client for a fall and ankle fracture suffered during physical therapy at a nursing home.

Along with his casework, Mike enthusiastically shares his knowledge and experience by speaking regularly to colleagues and community organizations, including the American Association for Justice, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education. Mike has given speeches on nursing home litigation as well as deposition strategies. He has also made presentations on nursing home abuse to Chicago-area senior organizations and Illinois aging professionals.

Mike is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, American Bar Association, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Secretary of the American Association for Justice Nursing Home Litigation Group and the Justinian Society of Lawyers. He was recently named President of the Justinian Society and also writes the verdicts and settlements section the organization’s newsletter. Additionally, Mike is a member of the ISBA’s Young Lawyers Division Council and also served on the board of directors for the River North Business Association.

In September 2010, Michael was honored as one of the “40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch,” and he has also been named an Illinois Rising Star by Super Lawyers in every year since 2011. Mike was honored with an award for Trial Lawyer Excellence for the Highest Reported Illinois Verdict in a Nursing Home Malpractice case.

Michael is president and founder of the Michael F. Bonamarte III Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funding research on the treatment and prevention of strokes. Michael founded the organization in memory of his late father, Michael F. Bonamarte III, who passed away in 2006. The Foundation has raised over $60,000 since its inception.

Education:

• J.D., John Marshall Law School, 2005
• B.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001

Professional & Bar Association Memberships:

• American Bar Association, Member
• Illinois State Bar Association
  • Member, Council Member, Young Lawyers Division
• Chicago Bar Association, Member
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Member
• American Association for Justice
• AAJ Nursing Home Litigation Group
  • Member, Named Treasurer in 2014