Michael F. Bonamarte IV was hired as an associate attorney in August 2005 after graduating from John Marshall Law School. Mike is well-known and respected by his peers, clients and opposing lawyers for his diligent and passionate work on behalf of those who have been harmed as a result of wrongful conduct. Mike has achieved outstanding results in a number of high-profile nursing home, wrongful death, medical malpractice and personal injury lawsuits. In March 2014, he was named Partner at Levin & Perconti.
In his first jury trial, Mike, 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.
Mike 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.
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.
Along with his casework, Mike enthusiastically shares his knowledge and experience by speaking regularly to colleagues and community organizations, including the 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, American Association for Justice and the Justinian Society of Lawyers. He was recently appointed as Third Vice President of the Justinian Society and also writes the verdicts and settlements section the organization's newsletter. In July 2014, Mike was appointed as Parliamentarian of the AAJ's Nursing Home Litigation Group. 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 was also 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.
Mike 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. Mike founded the organization in memory of his late father, Michael F. Bonamarte III, who passed away in 2006. The Foundation has raised over $40,000 since its inception.
Mike graduated from Highland Park High School, Highland Park, IL, where he was the captain and starting quarterback for the school's varsity football team. He 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. After passing the July 2005 Illinois Bar, Mike was sworn in as an attorney on Nov. 10, 2005.
