Mark C. Murnane, Partner, Chicago Illinois

Mark has obtained over $50 million in settlement and verdicts on behalf of his clients. In 2004, Mark was selected by the publisher of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer magazine as one of the Forty Illinois Attorneys to Watch, a designation accorded to less than 1% of the state’s practicing attorneys.

Mark has achieved many noteworthy settlements and verdicts including:

• $7,173,500 record jury verdict in Illinois for an ankle injury.

• $4,065,000 record settlement for an ironworker who developed RSD when a bar joist fell over onto his foot.

• $3,350,000 settlement for an ironworker who went through guardrails and fell 10 feet injuring his back.

• $2,100,000 settlement for an ironworker who fell 25 feet and severely fractured his wrist.

• $2,270,900 verdict for a female plaintiff who injured her back when struck by a Com-Ed truck. After Mark’s deposition of Defendant’s medical expert, Defendant withdrew the expert who testified in Plaintiff’s case in chief.

• $1,650,000 settlement for an ironworker who fell off a bridge and injured his knee and shoulder.

• $810,315 record verdict in LaSalle County for an ironworker who was injured when a manlift ran over his ankle.

• $1,200,000 settlement for an ironworker who slipped on conduit. Case settled on the first day of trial despite Defendant’s contention from the start of the case that it would never come close to paying $1 million dollars for soft tissue injuries.

• $1,050,000 for a sprinkle-fitter who injured his knee when he fell from a ladder. Defendant increased offer from $300,000 to $1,050,000 after Mark’s opening statement.

• $1,000,000 for a sprinkle-fitter who fell and injured his knee due to a defective step on a scissors lift. Case settled even though there was significant comparative negligence by the Plaintiff who had known about the defective step for several weeks.

• $1,000,000 settlement for an ironworker after convincing the Appellate Court to reverse the trial court’s previous dismissal of the case.

• $1,000,000 settlement for a pipefitter who fell on wet stairs.

• $800,000 settlement for a Local 150 operator who injured his knee when Defendant’s employee lost control of material being loaded onto a skip hoist.

• $399,000 for a carpenter after defeating defendant’s motion for summary judgement on the loaned servant doctrine.

Mark’s areas of practice include construction negligence, premises liability, medical negligence and automobile and trucking liability. Mark started his legal career at a large defense firm, during which time Mark gained an outstanding of how insurance companies evaluate and defend personal injury cases. With the insurance companies now on the other side, this knowledge has helped Mark in his fight for the rights and interests of injured victims.

Mark graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts in 1989. In 1992, he received a law degree from Loyola University School of Law in Chicago, at which he was a member of the law review. Mark has given presentations at Illinois Trial Lawyers education seminars. Aside from his trial practice, Mark is active with the Chicago Bar Association, the Center for Disability and Elder Law and Illinois Spinal Cord Injury Association.

Areas of Practice:
• Construction Negligence
• Premises Liability
• Product Liability
• Medical Negligence
• Motor Vehicle Collisions
• Transportation Negligence

Bar Admissions:
• Illinois, 1992

Education:
• Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Chicago, Illinois, J.D., 1992
• College of the Holy Cross, BA, 1989

Professional Associations and Memberships:
• Chicago Bar Association
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
• Illinois State Bar Association
• Society of Trial Lawyers