Benjamin P. Beringer

Ben Beringer joined the firm in 1991 from Jenner & Block where he practiced in diverse areas of commercial litigation.  Since joining the firm, he has practiced principally in the area of medical malpractice.  He has represented clients in both state and federal court and in Cook, Lake, DuPage, Will and Vermillion counties.

 

Experience: Mr. Beringer has represented a wide array of health care clients, ranging from individual physicians to major university hospitals. His experience in medical negligence law runs the gamut of medical specialties, including obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, neurology, cardiology, radiology, orthopedics and surgery. 

  

Mr. Beringer has tried numerous cases to verdict or judgment.  He also has successfully disposed of a number of medical malpractice lawsuits on their merits prior to trial.  His experience includes appellate defense of a number of those pre-trial dispositions.  In one wrongful death case in which a geriatric patient fell from his bed resulting in injury and eventual death, he secured summary judgment on behalf of the defendant hospital; then defeated plaintiff’s appeal of the summary judgment order.  In another wrongful death case against a major Chicago-area teaching hospital, he successfully barred plaintiff’s experts and obtained summary judgment on behalf of the hospital.  Plaintiff appealed both orders, but the First District affirmed the lower court rulings in their entirety.   

 

Insurance companies and third-party administrators nationwide have tapped Mr. Beringer’s medical malpractice experience for purposes of evaluating and setting loss reserves for their medical malpractice claims.  He has presented papers and spoken on medical malpractice topics before the Chicagoland Healthcare Risk Managers Society and at insurance symposiums.

 

Although medical malpractice is the lion’s share of his work, Mr. Beringer’s practice also includes other areas of professional liability (home inspectors, lawyers, real estate agents), municipal tort liability, personal injury, landlord-tenant law and premises liability. He also has participated in various forms of alternative dispute resolution, including arbitrations involving the Major League Baseball Players Association.

  

Honors, Education and Activities:  Mr. Beringer attended Wabash College where he graduated summa cum laude in 1987.  He obtained his law degree in 1990 at Indiana University where he graduated cum laude.  While at Indiana University he was a member of the Indiana Law Journal, the Trial Team and the admissions committee.  He also served as editor in chief of the law school’s student publication, The Exordium.   He is a member of the State Bar of Illinois,  the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, the Illinois Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association.  Mr. Beringer is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell.