Michael F. Bonamarte, IV

• Illinois Super Lawyers 2020 
• Trial Lawyers Excellence Award: Highest Reported Illinois Verdict in a Nursing Home Malpractice case
• 40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch, September 2010
• Illinois Rising Star, Super Lawyers, 2011 - 2019
• Mike received an award for Trial Lawyer Excellence for the Highest Reported Illinois Verdict in a Nursing Home Malpractice case. This honor was awarded to him by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company and the Jury Verdict Reporter. To see the announcement,
• William J. Harte Amicus Reward for his work on the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association’s Amicus Curiae Committee 2011, 2011
• Illinois Leading Lawyers, Leading Lawyer, 2017
• Emerging Leaders by Leading Lawyers 2015-2016
• Law Bulleting Publishing Company's "40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch", 2010
• Illinois Super Lawyers: Rising Star 2011-2018

• Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, “Expert Witnesses-When and How to Depose Them and How to Take a Good Deposition," Nursing Home & Assisted Living Facility Litigation Seminar, February 6, 2015, Chicago, IL.
• Steve Levin and Mike Bonamarte, selected by the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, recently wrote a brief and submitted it to the Illinois Supreme Court arguing that punitive damages, a form of punishment and deterrence, should be allowed in nursing home death cases when the conduct of the nursing home is egregious.
• "Advising Elder Clients and Their Families - Chapter 7 - Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Actions Under the Nursing Home Care Act,”  Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, 2008 Handbook and 2012 Supplement.  IICLE (2012) with Steven M. Levin.
• Two Partners Talk About Going from Student to Teacher," Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, August 1, 2019
• "Nursing Home Legal Group Looks for Ways to Improve Profession," Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, December 11, 2019.
• "Attorney's Fees and Costs Under the Nursing Home Care Act after Grauer vs. Clare Oaks," ITLA Trial Journal, Volume 22, Number 1, Winter 2020.
• New Jersey Association for Justice Annual Board Walk Seminar, "Nursing Home: Proving the Case," Depositions: Using the Witnesses' Words, May 10, 2018, Atlantic City, New Jersey.
• Deposing Nursing Home Employees and Owners in Neglect and Abuse Cases, Strafford Publications Webinar, April 11, 2018
• Sons of Norway Torske Club’s Fall Dinner Meeting. Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect. October 11, 2008, Des Plaines, IL.
• American Association for Justice, Nursing Home College: Depositions. May 10, 2012. Washington, DC.
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Rights and Remedies Seminar Nursing Home Litigation. April 10, 2010, Oak Brook, IL.
• American Association for Justice Nursing Home Litigation Group, "Don't Forget the Deposition," CLE Program: Issues Often Missed in Nursing Home Cases, July 11, 2015, Montreal, Canada. 
• Evergreen Park Public Library, "Arbitration in Nursing Homes & Signs and Symptoms of Abuse and Neglect." October 22, 2016. Evergreen Park, IL. 
• Chicago Bar Association Tort Litigation Committee Meeting Complex  Issues and Pitfalls in Discovery for the Tort Trial Lawyer. March 4, 2010, Chicago, IL.
• Vernon Park Church of God's Senior Council Meeting. Advocating for Your Loved One in a Nursing Home Setting. January 16, 2010, Chicago, IL, with Steven M. Levin.
• National Association of Elder Law Attorneys National Teleseminar Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Actions in Elderly Populations June 2008.
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Top Topics Seminar Deposition Strategies. June 8, 2007, Chicago, IL.
• Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education Personal Injury Practice Update Wrongful Death - Nursing Home Negligence. June 15, 2007, Chicago, IL and June 29, 2007, Springfield,IL.
• "Advising Elder Clients and Their Families - Chapter 7 - Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Actions Under the Nursing Home Care Act,”  Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, 2008 Handbook.  IICLE (2008) with Steven M. Levin.
• "Plaintiff's Perspectives," Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, 2008 Handbook.  IICLE (2008) with Steven M. Levin.
• "Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Actions in the Elderly Population,"The Advocacy & Litigation SIG Advocate: National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Inc. (Spring 2008) with Steven M. Levin.
• “Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Actions Under the Nursing Home Care Act,” Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, 2006 Handbook. IICLE (2006) with Steven M. Levin.
• The Importance of Serving Vulnerable Populations, Lake County Bar Association Meeting, 2010
• 2011 Illinois Elder Rights Conference on July 7, 2011 on "The Role of the Private Attorney in Enforcing Elder Rights Through Litigation.", 2011
• American Association for Justice, Nursing Home College: Depositions. May 10, 2012. Washington, DC.
• American Association for Justice, Litigating Nursing Home Cases Seminar: From Case Selection to Trial. May 9, 2013. Boston, MA with Steve Levin
• "Plaintiff's Perspectives," Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education Long-Term Care Litigation Handbook, 2013 Edition with Steven M. Levin.
• Kentucky Justice Association Nursing Home Seminar, Taking Depositions to Win The Case. May 31, 2013. Lexington, KY.
• Speaker, Cultural Considerations in Nursing Homes, The John Marshall Law School, 2014
• Nursing Home Neglect –Medical Malpractice – Personal Injury, Legal & Insurance Workshop, LULAC Of Lake County, 2014
• Nursing Home Litigation - How to Take Key Depositions in a Nursing Home Lawsuit, 49th Annual Institute, Indiana Trial Lawyers Association, 2013
• Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Litigation Review, Update and Review Seminar, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, 2013
• Strafford Nursing Home Depos Webinar, CLE Webinar, April 20, 2017, "Deposing Nursing Home Staff and Corporate Representatives in Nursing Home Injury Cases", Speaker, 2017
• The John Marshall Law School, Personal injury in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. April 2, 2012, Chicago, IL.
• National Association of Elder Law Attorneys National Telephonic Seminar Personal Injury Actions on Behalf of Elderly Populations July 7, 2010.

• Member, Young Lawyers Division Council, ISBA
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 2006
• Illinois, 2005
• American Bar Association
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Member of the Amicus Curiae Committee
• River North Business Association, Former Member of the Board of Directors
• Justinian Society - President and newsletter contributor. Former Secretary and Treasurer
• Member, Chicago Bar Association
• American Association for Justice
• Illinois State Bar Association Council Member, Young Lawyers Division
• Secretary of the American Association of Justice, Nursing Home Litigation Group
• AAJ Nursing Home Litigation Group, Named Treasurer in 2014

• Client Tell

• B.A. University of Wisconsin- Madison, 2001

• President and founder of the Michael F. Bonamarte III Foundation, 2007
• Board Member, River North Business Association, 2010

• Trial Lawyer Excellence Award: Highest Reported Illinois Verdict in a Nursing Home Malpractice case, 2012
• Recipient of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association's 2011 William J. Harte Amicus Award for his work on behalf of the organization's Amicus Curiae Committee., 2011
• Named as one of the Law Bulletin Publishing Company's "40 Illinois Under Forty to Watch.", 2010
• Emerging Leaders by Leading Lawyers, 2015

• $7.5 million Illinois Record Jones Act Settlement for a 37-year-old man who sustained serious neck and spinal cord injuries in an Illinois boat explosion.
• $700,000 record settlement against a Coles County nursing home for a 43-year-old man who developed a Stage IV pressure ulcer that led to a deterioration in his overall condition and contributed to his death. 
• $975,000 settlement for the mother of a young man who suffered a fatal brain injury after falling from the porch of a second story Chicago apartment. The lawsuit alleged that the porch railings were 10 inches lower than the Chicago Building Code's requirements and the apartment owner failed to maintain the porch in a reasonably safe manner.
• $1.8 million verdict against a Chicago-area surgeon who removed our client's only remaining testicle during routine hernia surgery. , 2014
• $2.7 million verdict to the estate of a man who died from complications related to a fall at a South Side nursing home., 2017
•  $2.3 million settlement for the family of an 88-year old assisted living facility resident who developed severe and infected bed sores which ultimately brought about her death.  Her doctor was criminally indicted for his conduct and charged with involuntary homicide.
• $4.75 million medical malpractice settlement for the surviving family of a 45-year-old man who died from a heart condition after physicians delayed reading an MRI for nine days. The lawsuit alleged that the scan should have been read on the day it was performed and if so would have revealed a heart condition that could have been fixed with surgery., 2013
• $1 million settlement in a case filed by the family of an 88-year-old man who developed multiple infected bed sores that required surgery, prolonged hospitalization, and extensive wound care to treat.  The bed sore lawsuitalleged that the nursing home failed to take the proper measures to prevent his pressure sores from forming, and failed to prevent existing pressure ulcers from worsening
• $552,000.00 verdict against Community Physical Therapy & Associates, Ltd for the wife of a 67-year-old male with a neuromuscular disorder which causes progressive muscle weakness over time. The patient was attempting to ambulate in physical therapy took steps, fell and fractured his ankle.  (Press Release)., 2017
• $2.9 million record nursing home jury verdict against a suburban Homewood nursing home for the family of a deceased 57-year-old resident who was suffocated due to the home’s negligent care of her tracheostomy tube.
• $1 million settlement on behalf of a quadriplegic that developed severe pressure sores that his nursing home claimed were unavoidable. After leaving the home, it took one year for the sores to heal and they have not returned.
• $1.5 million construction site injury settlement for a 33-year-old man who sustained severe injuries after falling through a chimney stack opening that was not covered or marked on a residential construction site in Glencoe, Illinois.  , 2013

• American Association Of Justice (Nursing Home Litigation Group)
• American Bar Association
• Chicago Bar Association
• Illinois State Bar Association (Council Member
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
• Young Lawyers Division

“Michael Bonamarte is a leader in the personal injury field and an expert in the area of Nursing Home Abuse matters. He fights tirelessly for his clients.”