Superior
Court of Delaware Who We Are & What We Do
The Superior Court has
statewide original jurisdiction
over criminal and civil cases, except for equity cases and domestic
relations matters.
The Court has exclusive jurisdiction over felonies and drug
offenses (except most felonies and drug offenses involving minors,
and except possession of marijuana cases).
The Court serves as an intermediate appellate court,
hearing appeals on the record from the Court
of Common Pleas, Family
Court (adult criminal), and more than 50 administrative
agencies.
The Superior
Court which celebrated its 175th Anniversary in 2007 has
courthouses located in three counties—New Castle, Kent
and Sussex.
This project was launched in 2007 because the court had
nearly $5 million excess proceeds from Sheriff's sales
that occurred during the past five years. The funds are
waiting to be claimed by the rightful owner of the money.
The Court has disbursed over $1 million.
Excess proceeds arise when the value of the property,
at the time of sale, exceeds the amount of money needed
to pay off all recorded liens and mortgages. (View
complete details.)
On November 19, 2007,
President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr. appointed
a five-member Special Committee on Superior
Court Toxic Tort Litigation to consider questions
raised about the increased number of out-of-state
toxic-tort personal injury cases and its effect
upon defendants.
After inclusive input from plaintiffs' and defendants'
counsel, the Delaware Bar, the Chamber, academics,
and interest groups the lengthy report
was submitted to the Court on May 9, 2008.
Among the conclusions were that "after careful
review, we are satisfied that Delaware asbestos
litigation is fairly conducted for both defendants
and plaintiffs and is effectively resolving claims.
It works and it works very well."
(View
the Report.)
