The Lawyer Behind Your Case
Colleen Mixan Mikaitis is a partner and co-founder of Mixan Mahony, LLC and a Chicago plaintiffs’ trial lawyer representing individuals and families in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases in Chicago, Cook County and throughout Illinois. Her practice focuses on medical malpractice, sexual abuse and assault, nursing home abuse and neglect, and other complex cases involving serious injury or death.
Colleen has devoted her legal career to representing people harmed by negligence, abuse, and misconduct. She has significant experience handling complex cases involving hospitals and healthcare providers, nursing homes and long-term care facilities, institutions responsible for sexual abuse and assault, and other individuals and organizations whose conduct causes serious harm.
Colleen believes effective representation begins with understanding the person behind the case. She takes the time to understand how an injury or loss has affected each client physically, emotionally, financially, and personally. That relationship helps her develop the evidence, tell the client’s full story, and make strategic decisions based on what the client wants the case to accomplish.
Colleen has secured significant verdicts and settlements for clients in Chicago, Cook County and throughout Illinois, including multimillion-dollar recoveries in medical malpractice, wrongful death, sexual abuse and assault, nursing home negligence, and other serious personal injury cases.
Recognition & Professional Honors
Colleen’s work has been recognized by the Illinois legal community. In 2018, the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin named her one of its 40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch.
She has also been recognized by Illinois Super Lawyers, including selections to Rising Stars and Super Lawyers.
Colleen is actively involved in the legal community and is a member of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, where she serves on the Board of Directors. She also serves on the Leadership Council for A New Direction, a program of WINGS, supporting survivors of domestic violence.
Education
- University of Illinois Chicago School of Law (J.D.)
While in law school, Colleen completed a judicial externship with the Honorable John W. Darrah of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She was named to the Dean’s List for several consecutive terms and received a CALI Award for Illinois Civil Procedure. - University of Wisconsin–Madison (B.A., Political Science)
Chicago Roots
Chicago Is Home.
Colleen grew up on the South Side of Chicago and attended Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School. Her connection to Chicago and its communities has remained an important part of both her personal life and legal career.
Before founding Mixan Mahony, LLC Colleen practiced at established plaintiffs’ personal injury firms in Chicago, where she developed extensive experience representing individuals and families in medical malpractice, nursing home negligence, wrongful death, sexual abuse, and other serious personal injury litigation.
Today, she represents clients from Mixan Mahony, LLC’s downtown Chicago office in cases throughout Cook County and Illinois.
Representative Verdicts & Settlements
Colleen has obtained significant verdicts and settlements for individuals and families in Chicago and throughout Illinois. Representative results include:
- $10 million settlement reached prior to a motions in limine conference in Cook County involving a nineteen-year-old patient who was allowed to commit suicide at Madden Mental Health Center.
- $6 million settlement for two passengers of a vehicle that was rear-ended on the shoulder of northbound Interstate 294, resulting in severe and permanent injuries.
- $4.5 million settlement reached as a result of the death of a one-year-old infant due to the untimely diagnosis and treatment of meningitis by a Chicagoland hospital.
- $4.275 million settlement reached prior to picking a Cook County jury for a twenty-one-year-old patient that underwent a below-the-knee amputation due to a Chicagoland hospital’s failure to monitor the blood flow to his leg while he received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
- $3.75 million settlement reached on behalf of fifty-three-year-old woman in DuPage County due to a Chicagoland hospital’s failure to adequately monitor her respiratory condition after back surgery, resulting in her traumatic death.
- $3.5 million settlement involving the death of an eleven-month-old infant due to a Chicagoland hospital’s failure to timely recognize and treat worsening RSV.
- $3.5 million settlement involving a plaintiff’s attempted suicide at an inpatient freestanding psychiatric hospital.
- $3.4 million settlement on behalf of a sixty-seven-year-old woman that suffered a traumatic fall during a hospitalization, resulting in multiple inoperable brain bleeds and her premature death.
- $2.85 million settlement reached on behalf of a thirty-two-year-old woman that underwent surgical removal of a pineal cyst resulting in cerebellar edema and bleeding, which was untimely diagnosed and treated, causing her death.
- $1.65 million settlement reached in DuPage County on behalf of patient who was allowed to commit suicide at a substance abuse facility for rehabilitation.
- $1.5 million settlement obtained while arguing pre-trial motions against a physician, pharmacy, and nurse for the prescription of a medication the plaintiff had a known allergy to, leading to her death.
- $1.490 million settlement obtained on behalf of a 40-year-old patient who suffered hypoxic brain damage due to a physician’s administration of anesthesia without the presence of a secure airway, leading to the patient’s untimely death.
- $1.450 million settlement against an internist and radiologist for their failure to diagnose and treat non-small cell lung cancer, resulting in the plaintiff’s premature death.
- $1.375 million settlement for a victim of childhood sexual abuse and assault while a patient of a confidential educational provider.
- $1.365 million verdict in Cook County on behalf of a ninety-eight (98) year old woman against her cardiologist for the negligent increase of her blood thinner medication leading to a coumadin overdose and severe bleeding event.
- $1.35 million settlement against a nursing home and hospital for the development and deterioration of multiple pressure injuries that caused the patient’s death.
- $1.2 million settlement reached on behalf of a childhood sexual abuse victim of former Archdiocese of Chicago priest Vincent McCaffrey paid by the Catholic Bishop of Chicago and Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church.
- $1.2 million settlement reached on behalf of a sixty-six-year-old disabled man who was allowed to develop a severely infected full thickness pressure injury, which caused him to become septic and required multiple surgeries.
- $1 million settlement reached on behalf of a psychiatric patient that was allowed to eat a hotdog without any teeth or dentures, resulting in a significant choking incident, asphyxia and her traumatic death.
- $962,500 medical negligence settlement with a Chicago area hospital on behalf of the Estate of a 78-year-old woman. Our client presented to the hospital’s ER with complaints of headache, chest pain, and shortness of breath. The hospital did not admit her, order a chest CT, or consult a cardiologist. This case settled on the fourth day of trial.
- $950,000.00 nursing home negligence settlement on behalf of a patient who became severely dehydrated and malnourished, which led to the patient’s premature death.
- $900,000 settlement reached during a motion in limine conference in Winnebago County on behalf of a seventy-year-old woman that suffered a traumatic fall during physical therapy resulting in fractures to her wrist and a torn rotator cuff requiring surgical repair.
- $655,000 settlement reached on behalf of a nursing home patient who suffered an untimely diagnosed and treated bowel obstruction that perforated and caused her death.
- $600,000.00 medical malpractice settlement involving a surgeon’s negligent transection of the plaintiff’s common hepatic duct during a laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
- $500,000 Will County settlement on behalf of a childhood sexual abuse victim paid by The Diocese of Joliet.
Areas of Practice
Medical Malpractice | Sexual Abuse & Assault | Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect | Wrongful Death | Birth Injuries | Serious Personal Injury
Let’s Talk About What Happened.
If you or someone you love has been seriously injured because of negligence, abuse, or misconduct, contact Colleen and the attorneys at Mixan Mahony, LLC to discuss what happened and learn more about your options.
