John Bonina

John Bonina Jr. grew up knowing that he wanted to make a difference. Through his talent in the courtroom and his tireless preparation, he has used the law to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of clients by fighting for them when they otherwise would not have had a voice.

John has been making a difference for his clients ever since his first trial win 25 years ago. Some significant verdicts include a $7,000,000 verdict for the wrongful death of a man who bled to death following liver surgery; a $4,646,000 verdict for the wrongful death of a woman due to delayed diagnosis of lung cancer; a $2,500,000 verdict for a man who sustained a perforated colon during a colonoscopy, resulting in the need for a colostomy and the development of a hernia; a $2,500,000 verdict for the family of a woman who bled to death while waiting for emergency surgery on a ruptured aneurysm; a $1,646,000 verdict for the family of a man who died as the result of delayed diagnosis of lung cancer; a $1,250,000 verdict for failure to diagnose appendicitis; a $1,000,000 for an improper diagnosis of tuberculosis; a $1,350,000 verdict for an improperly performed tubal ligation; and a $1,000,000 verdict for a worker hit by a forklift on a loading dock.

His success extends beyond verdicts, with numerous multimillion-dollar settlements in cases involving injured construction workers, catastrophically injured children and others injured by negligence or malpractice.

John Bonina Jr. is the senior trial attorney for the firm, leading a five-lawyer team with over 100 years of combined experience representing victims of medical malpractice, negligence and defective products. Under John's leadership in the last 10 years, the firm of Bonina & Bonina has recorded more than $200 million in combined settlements and verdicts. He credits the firm's success to a combination of old-fashioned hard work and innovative trial techniques.

Bonina's approach guides everyone at his firm. "There are two important ingredients in representing injured people passionately: empathy for the clients and meticulous preparation on each and every case," he explains. "Our mission in pursuing fair and just compensation is to expose the wrongdoing that hurt our client - whether it is substandard medical care, dangerous consumer products or shoddy workplace safety practices. When we prepare for trial, we prepare as though someone's life depends on it — because for our clients, it does."

John's empathy for his clients is matched by his rapport with juries. He approaches his clients and jurors from the perspectives he has gained in nonlawyer roles such as basketball player, bartender, little league coach and father.

The combination of empathy for victims and courtroom skill has earned John the respect of his peers. Their positive evaluations have earned him a place in The Best Lawyers in America, and in New York Magazine's the Best Lawyers in the New York Area for the past 10 years. He has maintained the highest possible AV* rating in Martindale-Hubbell throughout his career.

A past president of the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers and the chairman of the Medical Malpractice Committee of the Brooklyn Bar Association, John Bonina is a frequent lecturer on medical malpractice and trial tactics throughout the New York state.

^{*AV Preeminent and BV Distinguished are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell ratings fall into two categories: legal ability and general ethical standards.}