Michael Ponterio

Michael A. Ponterio is a founding partner of Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford, LLC in Buffalo, New York, where he represents people injured by asbestos exposure. His work in that field dates to 1985 and includes cases involving mesothelioma. Catastrophic personal injury, defective products and motor vehicle accidents are also part of his practice.

Before entering the New York bar in 1984, Ponterio completed a B.A. at St. Bonaventure in 1978 and a J.D. at New England School of Law in 1983. He later contributed to the New York State Bar Association’s 1997 handbook, Products Liability in New York Strategy and Practice.

Two asbestos cases described in his firm biography are Racich v. Celotex Corp. and Wolf v. Celotex Corp. In Racich, he obtained both a personal injury jury verdict and a punitive damages award for an asbestos worker. The Buffalo verdict in Wolf came from his work with law partner John Ned Lipsitz on behalf of an asbestos victim.

Children injured by lead exposure figure in his trial record as well. A Western New York case resulted in a jury verdict in September 2011 for a child with lead poisoning. In November 2013, Ponterio and fellow firm attorney Zachary J. Woods obtained a verdict for a Rochester child whose injuries arose from lead-based paint exposure.

Ponterio was elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in July 2020.