Clark Johnson
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Areas Of Practice
- Appellate & Constitutional Law
- Complex Commercial & Business Litigation
- Arbitration & Alternative Dispute Resolution
Clark Johnson’s practice focuses on complex business disputes and class action litigation. Mr. Johnson represents business entities, directors, officers and shareholders in a wide range of litigation. He has litigated and tried corporate governance and control matters, lender liability claims, shareholder disputes and derivative actions, restrictive covenant suits, securities and consumer fraud cases, construction matters and franchise disputes, among others. He has litigated cases in twenty-three states.
Examples of Mr. Johnson’s class action work include defending life insurance companies in cost of insurance increase and failure to decrease cases, vanishing premium cases, modal premium cases, DAC tax cases, effective-date cases and interest crediting cases. He has extensive experience in class litigation concerning fixed index annuities and universal life insurance. In addition, Mr. Johnson has litigated FLSA collective actions involving several difference industries, ERISA class actions, and state consumer protection act and California UCL and elder abuse matters. Mr. Johnson also has defended class actions against mortgage companies involving payoff statement fees and predatory lending, and TILA claims against credit card issues.
Examples of Mr. Johnson’s experience in securities-related litigation include the defense of a number of securities fraud class actions and shareholder suits, and prosecution and defense of FINRA arbitrations. In addition, Mr. Johnson has significant experience in representing issuers, officers and others in SEC investigations and enforcement actions, and in internal corporate investigations.
Mr. Johnson represents clients across a variety of industries including financial services and banking, construction, transportation, real estate development, food and beverage, hospitality, and manufacturing.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Johnson was a partner at a large regional firm for thirteen years. He also was an associate (1996-2001) and then an equity partner (2002-2004) at Jenner & Block LLP in Chicago. Mr. Johnson began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Hugh Dillin, United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division.
Representative Matters
- PHT Holding I, LLC v. Sec. Life of Denver Ins. Co., No. 23-1326, 2024 WL 4765530 (10th Cir. Nov. 13, 2024). Mr. Johnson served as lead trial counsel for Security Life of Denver at the district court and argued the appeal in this cost-of-insurance class action. The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of Security Life of Denver.
- SuperAsh Remainderman, LP v. Ashland, LLC, — S.W.3d —, No. 2023-CA-0427-DG, 2024 WL 4521291 (Ky. Ct. App. Oct. 18, 2024). Mr. Johnson represented a commercial landlord in a series of forcible detainer cases and successfully argued at the Court of Appeals, obtaining a reversal of the lower courts’ refusal to issue eviction orders.
- Ooten v. Hillcrest Nursing Home of Corbin, Inc., No. 6:23-CV-202-REW-HAI, 2024 WL 4045444 (E.D. Ky. Sept. 4, 2024). Mr. Johnson represented a skilled nursing facility and related defendants in a series of class actions alleging that the facilities were understaffed. The district courts granted defendants’ motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim.
- ISCO Industries v. O’Neill, No. 2020-ci-3079 (Jefferson Cir. Ct., Ky). Mr. Johnson served as lead trial counsel for defendant in this restrictive covenants case. After a number of claims were dismissed, the matter was tried to a jury for a week in March 2024. The jury return a verdict completely in favor of defendant.
- Holbert v. Vittitow Refrigeration, Inc., No. 3:20-CV-114-DJH-CHL, 2023 WL 12004725 (W.D. Ky. Mar. 31, 2023). Mr. Johnson served as lead trial counsel for plan trustees in this ERISA action concerning interim valuation of plan assets. After a bench trial, the court declined to award plaintiff any recovery.
- Edwards Moving & Rigging, Inc. v. Sims Crane, Inc., 2020 WL 7707025 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 29, 2020). Mr. Johnson served as lead trial counsel for plaintiff in this contract and business tort action in federal court in Tampa. The court entered a partial preliminary injunction, and then plaintiff established that defendants were in contempt of the injunction. After a three-day bench trial in Summer 2020, the Court entered a permanent injunction in favor of plaintiff.
- Abbit v. ING USA Annuity & Life Ins. Co., 774 Fed. Appx. 351 (9th Cir. 2019). Mr. Johnson served as lead trial counsel for defendant in this class action relating to fixed indexed annuities. The district court granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment and the Ninth Circuit affirmed.
Admissions
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit
- U.S. District Court District of Colorado
- U.S. District Court Central District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Kentucky
- U.S. District Court Western District of Kentucky
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan
Education
- Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Bloomington, Indiana
- J.D. - 1994
- Honors: magna cum laude
- Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
- B.A. - 1989
- Major: Slavic Languages & Literature
Clerkship
- Law Clerk, Hon. S. Hugh Dillin, United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
Honors And Awards
- Martindale-Hubbell AV-Preeminent Peer Review Rated
- Chambers USA, “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business,” Litigation: General Commercial, 2017-2021
- Best Lawyers in America, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions-Defendants
- Benchmark Litigation magazine, Future Star, 2017
- Kentucky Super Lawyers, 2013-2021
Professional Memberships
- Fellow, American Bar Foundation
- American Bar Association, Litigation Section
- Louisville Bar Association
- Member, Joint Local Rules Commission for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, 2016-present
- Member, Jefferson County (Kentucky) Business Court Docket – Pilot Project Committee, 2019-present