Mary S. Johnson

About Mary

Ms. Johnson is active in the defense of complex environmental, toxic tort, sinkhole, landfill, chemical exposure, insurance coverage, medical monitoring, oil spills, oyster leases, pesticides, carbon monoxide, naturally occurring radioactive material ("NORM"), nuisance, noise, industrial accidents, fires, explosions, and catastrophic personal injury, property damage, and class action litigation. She also has an active mediation and appellate practice in the same areas. Ms. Johnson has particular abilities in defending premises owners, employers and their executive officers in occupational exposure and related medical monitoring litigation throughout Louisiana. She has successfully defended multiple cases alleging damage to coastal marshes, wetlands, oyster leases, property and global warming claims. She has substantial experience in multi-party and class action lawsuits, and is currently handling a number of consolidated sinkhole, NORM, asbestos, coastal marshes, wetlands, nuisance, and chemical exposure cases. As lead trial counsel, she tried to verdict the emotional distress and diminution of property value claims brought by multiple plaintiffs in the Agriculture Street Landfill litigation in Orleans Parish. She prevailed in the Louisiana Supreme Court that the “all sums” language in a CGL policy does not provide coverage for claims falling outside of the policy periods. John Johnson, et al. v. Orleans Parish School Board, et al., No. 12-CC-0187 (La. 5/31/12); 90 So. 3d 389, obtained a summary judgment limiting the amount of insurance coverage available to the class plaintiffs, and negotiated a final resolution of the consolidated landfill cases against her client. She is actively litigating multiple property damage cases arising from the Bayou Corne Sinkhole in Louisiana. She previously defended a major shipyard in the In re: Combustion Inc. toxic tort litigation that included 17 toxic tort suits with over 12,000 plaintiffs alleging personal injury, property damage, and "fear of cancer" against 84 defendants, in addition to third-party demands against over 300 generator companies, the United States Government and the insurers of the former site owners and operators. Ms. Johnson successfully pursued the site owners, operators and their insurers in a CERCLA cost recovery action on behalf of a PRP Group.

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