Mary Miller Johnston | |
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Judge, Superior Court of Delaware | |
In office 2003–2024 | |
Appointed by | Governor Ruth Ann Minner (2003) |
Preceded by | Haile L. Alford |
Appointed by | Governor Jack Markell (Reappointed in 2015) |
Personal details | |
Education | Wittenberg University (B.A.,magna cum laude,1979),Northwestern University (Masters in Music 1980),Washington &Lee School of Law (J.D.,cum laude,1984) |
Mary Miller Johnston is an American judge who served over 20 years on the Superior Court of Delaware. In 2011,she was assigned to the Superior Court's Complex Commercial Litigation Division,a specialized business court program,where she served until retiring in 2024,and has been a leader nationally among business court judges. She issued hundreds of legal opinions during her career.
"Unlike many jurisdictions,the members of Delaware’s judiciary are appointed after a meticulous judicial selection process." [1] In 2003,Johnston was nominated by Governor Ruth Ann Minner as a judge to Delaware's Superior Court,and began serving on September 25,2003. [2] The Superior Court is the state's trial level court with jurisdiction over criminal cases and civil cases involving money damages. [3] She was appointed to fill the judicial seat of the late Judge Haile L. Alford. [4] In 2015,she was re-nominated by Governor Jack Markell for another 12-year term,and continued serving on the Superior Court until her retirement in early 2024. [5] [6] [7] [8]
The Delaware Superior Court's Complex Commercial Litigation Division (CCLD) is a specialized business court program that was created in May 2010,with a jurisdiction focused on complex civil commercial disputes. The CCLD was created as a complement to Delaware's Court of Chancery,a court of equity that primarily addresses non-monetary disputes and which is considered a preeminent business court. The CCLD was designed "to offer businesses a forum dedicated to the resolution of business disputes" involving money damages. It has a designated subset of Superior Court judges,who hear assigned cases from beginning to end,using an active but flexible case management approach. [1]
Effective May 1,2011,then Superior Court President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr. assigned Johnston to the CCLD. [9] She served on the CCLD until her retirement in 2024,making her the longest serving judge in the CCLD's history. After her May 2011 appointment,she rendered her first CCLD written legal opinion on March 28,2012, [10] and made her final CCLD order on March 26,2024. [11] Johnston issued well over 150 written legal opinions and orders as a CCLD business court judge. [12] Johnston has also been designated to sit as a vice chancellor in the Delaware Court of Chancery. [13] [14]
Johnston has been a national leader among business court judges. She is an officer of the American College of Business Court Judges. [15] She has served as a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section. [16]
Johnston continued to preside over other types of civil cases,as well as criminal cases,even after appointment to the CCLD. In addition to her CCLD opinions,she issued hundreds of non-CCLD civil and criminal case legal opinions during her 21 years on the court. [12] By way of just a few examples,she has ruled on matters as wide-ranging as corporate directors and officers liability insurance coverage, [17] contract disputes over development and marketing of medical devices involving millions of dollars, [18] toxic tort pelvic mesh suits, [19] homicides, [20] [21] and climate fossil fuel disputes. [22]
Prior to becoming a judge,Johnston was Chief Counsel of the Delaware Supreme Court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel, [23] prosecuting cases involving attorney discipline and the unauthorized practice of law. She also was a law partner in private practice as a lawyer with the Wilmington,Delaware law firm Morris James,LLP,focusing on corporate and commercial litigation. [7] [24] [25]
After retirement as a judge,Johnston joined the private alternative dispute resolution firm,Delaware ADR. [26]
Johnston received her Bachelor of Arts in music, magna cum laude ,from Wittenberg University in 1979,a Master of Music degree [27] from Northwestern University in 1980,and a Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Washington &Lee School of Law in 1984. [7] [24] [28]
Johnston has received the following awards and honors,and held the following positions,among others;
Gebhart v. Belton,33 Del. Ch. 144,87 A.2d 862,aff'd,91 A.2d 137,was a case decided by the Delaware Court of Chancery in 1952 and affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court in the same year. Gebhart was one of the five cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education,the 1954 decision of the United States Supreme Court which found unconstitutional racial segregation in United States public schools.
The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's three constitutional courts,along with the Supreme Court and Superior Court. Since 2018,the court consists of seven judges. The court is known for being a hub for corporate governance litigation in the United States,as two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. It is among the preeminent business courts in the world.
The Delaware Superior Court,previously known as the Superior Court and Orphans' Court,is the state trial court of general jurisdiction in the state of Delaware. It has original jurisdiction over most criminal and civil cases. It also serves as an intermediate appellate court,hearing appeals on the record from the Court of Common Pleas,Family Court,and most state administrative agencies. It is headed by Judge Jan R. Jurden.
Leo E. Strine,Jr. is an American attorney and retired judge for the state of Delaware. He served on the Delaware Court of Chancery as vice chancellor from 1998 to 2011 and chancellor from 2011 to 2014,and as the chief justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from 2014 to 2019. Strine has worked in private practice since 2020.
Kim Anita McLane Wardlaw is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1998. She is the first Hispanic American woman to be appointed to a federal appeals court. Wardlaw was considered as a possible candidate to be nominated by Barack Obama to the Supreme Court of the United States.
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Business Courts,sometimes referred to as Commercial Courts,are trial courts that primarily or exclusively adjudicate internal business disputes and/or commercial litigation between businesses,heard before specialist judges assigned to these courts. Commercial Courts outside the United States may have broader or narrower jurisdiction than state trial level business and commercial courts within the United States,for example patent or admiralty jurisdiction;and jurisdiction may vary between countries.
Carolyn Berger is a former justice of the Delaware Supreme Court,and a former vice chancellor on the Delaware Court of Chancery. She was the first female member of both courts.
Martin P. Russo is an American trial lawyer of Sicilian and Cuban heritage from New York. He handles complex business litigation in state and federal courts throughout the United States,and other matters pending in administrative and alternative dispute resolution forums. He has handled bet-the-company litigations,complicated commercial disputes,financial services litigation,regulatory defense,white collar defense,corporate compliance,and internal investigations for publicly held and private companies in the United States and abroad.
Kathaleen Saint Jude McCormick is an American lawyer and judge on the Delaware Court of Chancery,first as a vice chancellor from 2018 to 2021 and then as the current chancellor since 2021. She is the first female chancellor in Delaware history.
Tamika Renee Montgomery-Reeves is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She previously served as an Associate Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court.
James Travis Laster is an American corporate lawyer and judge who has served as a Vice Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery since 2009.
Albert William Sheppard Jr. was an American judge in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia,in Pennsylvania’s First Judicial District. He played significant roles in reducing that court’s case backlog,and in establishing its business court,the Commerce Case Management Program,on which he served for its first 11 years.
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James L. Gale is a retired American judge who served on North Carolina's Business Court from 2011 to 2021,including three years as its Chief Judge. He also has been involved nationally and internationally in explaining and developing specialized business courts.
Carolyn E. Demarest is a retired American judge who served in New York's state and local court systems for 33 years. This includes her role as justice of the trial level New York Supreme Court for Brooklyn,Kings County,where she served for 26 years,and was one of that court's original Commercial Division specialist business court judges.
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Patricia A. McInerney is a retired American judge who served for over 20 years in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia,in Pennsylvania's First Judicial District. She served for 7 years in its Commerce Case Management Program,a specialized business court docket,including three years as its supervising judge. She handled a number of high-profile cases,such as a dispute over control of Philadelphia's major newspaper and the distribution of over $125 million from a tobacco settlement.
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