Bongiorno, Michael G.

Scott L. Bonder is a lawyer practicing principally in the areas of business and commercial litigation, breach of contract disputes, wrongful interference with contracts and business relationships, RICO and class actions.

Formerly a litigation partner with one of the world's largest law firms, Mr. Bonder has regularly been named one of Atlanta's "Super Lawyers" for Business Litigation and one of Atlanta's "Legal Elite" by Georgia Trend Magazine. Mr. Bonder has also been named numerous times as one of the Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyers by Atlanta Magazine.

He has represented clients in, among others, the automotive, hospitality, manufacturing, textile, trucking, investment banking, securities, advertising, banking and distribution industries. Mr. Bonder represents an international franchisor of hotels in franchise and intellectual property litigation , is the national outside coordinating counsel for litigation on behalf of a national financial institution, and regularly represents other businesses, large and small, in ongoing relationships. Mr. Bonder has also represented individuals in a wide range of business related cases, including breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent conveyances, defamation and property related disputes.

Mr. Bonder's experience before federal and state courts includes class actions, jury trials, bench trials and appellate matters. He has appeared in the State Courts of Georgia, New York, Florida, and Texas as well as federal courts in Georgia, Alabama, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska New York, Alabama, and California.
 
Mr. Bonder was honored by Governor Nathan Deal's Judicial Nomination Commission when they recommended him for a state court judgeship in DeKalb County. The Supreme Court of Georgia has twice appointed Mr. Bonder as a special master to hear disciplinary matters concerning alleged lawyer misconduct. In both instances Mr. Bonder recommended disbarment and the Supreme Court adopted both recommendations. The State Bar of Georgia honored Mr. Bonder by requesting his service on the Statewide Judicial Evaluation Committee.

Representative cases include:
 
A suit on behalf of a consultant to recover shares and options from an international high-end clothing manufacturer. The shares and options were to be paid as compensation for services pursuant to a consulting contract, which the manufacturer breached. Although the shares and options were worth under $100,000 at the time the contract was signed, this matter settled, just days before starting a jury trial, for over $2 million.
 
Recovery of over $12 million on behalf of a minority shareholder arising from the breach of a contract to purchase shares in one of Georgia's largest privately held corporations. Seizure of over $16 million in trucks from a nationwide freight carrier on behalf of an automotive finance company.
 
Mr. Bonder also regularly represents a number of businesses including an international hotel franchisor, an investment banking firm, a large dental practice, advertising agency, property investment firm and software developer.

Examples of reported appellate cases on which Mr. Bonder worked include Flagstar Bank v. Bernstein and Turpeau v. Fidelity Financial Services, Inc. In Flagstar, Mr. Bonder successfully represented a lender against a mortgage broker who fraudulently originated a high volume of loans. In Turpeau, Mr. Bonder represented a finance company in a class action involving credit life insurance. There, he successfully argued on behalf of a defendant that punitive damages should be aggregated for purposes of establishing federal diversity jurisdiction.

Mr. Bonder was also lead counsel in Holiday Hospitality, Inc. v. Thomas F. Noons, which upheld plaintiff’s liquidated damages clause and otherwise affirmed the over $1.5 million judgment obtained by Mr. Bonder for his client.  Mr. Bonder successfully argued that the plaintiff’s own calculations and pre-estimate of future damages was sufficient to uphold a liquidated damages clause.

Mr. Bonder is a regularly invited instructor at Emory Law School's Trial Advocacy Program. He also teaches contract law to a variety of industries, such as teaching contract law at various hospitality related classes and events. Mr. Bonder also teaches trial evidence to other lawyers in continuing legal education classes, and his articles have appeared in a wide variety of publications to various audiences.

While attending Emory University School of Law, Mr. Bonder was a national moot court champion, having won the awards for best oralist and best team at the Irving R. Kaufman Securities Law Moot Court Competition, sponsored by Fordham Law School. Mr. Bonder also won the award for best brief in the Georgia region of the National Moot Court Competition sponsored by the New York Bar Association.

In the legal community, Mr. Bonder is an active participant in numerous professionalism programs, was the coordinator for Region V of the National Moot Court Competition and continues to judge numerous moot court and mock trial competitions. He has also been an invited speaker on oral advocacy to various Moot Court Societies.

Mr. Bonder obtained his law degree from Emory University School of Law in 1995. Prior to law school, Mr. Bonder was a United States Marine.