James G. Bonebrake

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Litigation Attorney Chicago, IL
James G. Bonebrake
Of Counsel

James G. Bonebrake is a native to the Chicago area and has been licensed in Illinois since 1990. Mr. Bonebrake’s areas of concentration include personal injury, medical and other professional malpractice, and insurance policy holder coverage work. He has been named one of the top medical malpractice attorneys in Illinois by Illinois Super Lawyers from 2012 to the present.

Mr. Bonebrake received his Bachelor of Arts from DePauw University in 1987 with magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors. He then graduated from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois in 1990, where he was a member of the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Mr. Bonebrake is admitted to practice before all Illinois state courts, federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Bonebrake has handled hundreds of civil cases resulting in settlement or verdicts in many millions of dollars. He worked for the two-hundred attorney firm of Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon in Chicago from 1990 to 1995, where he represented product manufacturers, medical providers, retailers, and insurers in defending against personal injury and professional liability litigation. Since that time, he has represented individuals, entrepreneurs, and businesses in personal injury and insurance coverage matters. His experience includes jury and bench trials to verdict, with multi-million dollar results, as well as evidentiary hearings before administrative agencies in both the state and federal systems. Mr. Bonebrake has extensive experience with alternative dispute resolution (ADR), including arbitration and mediation, and has served as arbitrator on uninsured/underinsured motorist claims. His appellate experience is also extensive, having handled appeals before the Illinois appellate and Illinois Supreme Courts and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He has litigated matters valued at over 20 million dollars. He has also handled numerous insurance policy disputes, suing to require insurance companies to provide millions of dollars in coverage to their insured on property, general professional liability, workers compensation, and disability insurance policies.

Mr. Bonebrake is also an accomplished writer, having had articles and book chapters published on both criminal and civil matters, including in the area of medical malpractice. He is a member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and Illinois State Bar Association.

JURISDICTIONS ADMITTED TO PRACTICE

  • Illinois
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois

PROFESSIONAL & BAR ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS

PRACTICE AREAS

SAMPLE VERDICTS

  • Circuit Court of Cook County, IL: Lead Plaintiff’s trial attorney against numerous medical defendants for death of a child due to delayed diagnosis of fungal pneumonia; $4,016,929.00 jury verdict (2009)
  • Circuit Court of Cook County, IL: Co-trial counsel for plaintiff for failure to diagnose post-op infection; $3,530,000 jury verdict (2007)
  • Circuit Court of Cook County, IL: Solo trial for plaintiff with intracranial bleed who was punched in head by employee bouncer of bar; $492,350.00 bench verdict against bar (2015)

SAMPLE ARBITRATION RESULTS

  • Jacobson V. Citibank

SAMPLE REPORTED APPELLATE DECISIONS

  • Board of Education of Maine Township School District 207 v. International Ins. Co., 292 Ill. App. 3d (1st Dist. 1997)(Co-Counsel responsible for drafting briefs in trial court and on appeal relating to school board’s effort to find first party coverage for millions of dollars in remediation costs for asbestos)
  • ISBA Mutual Ins. Co. v. Acton & Snyder, Case No. 06 CH 04694, on appeal before the First District Illinois Appellate Court, Case No. 07-0384 (2008)(Successfully litigated as sole counsel before both chancery and appellate court, convincing appellate court that ISBA Mutual improperly denied defense obligations to its insured on a professional liability policy)
  • Marilee Curto v. Illinois Manors, Inc., 405 Ill. App. 3d 888 (3d Dist. 2010)(Co-plaintiff’s counsel responsible for brief; successfully asserted that wife did not have apparent authority to sign arbitration agreement on husband’s behalf in nursing home contract, setting important precedent governing arbitration clauses in Illinois)
  • Jennifer Gregory v. City of Peoria, Illinois Appellate Court for the Third Appellate District of Illinois, Case No. 3-11-0576 (2012)(Handled Oral Argument before the Appellate Court on application of Illinois Construction Statute of Repose to a claim against municipality)