J. Scott Miller
Counsel

J. Scott Miller

Scott Miller helps clients navigate the complex and often bewildering landscape of regulatory compliance, administrative, real estate matters, including land use permitting, conservation easements, water rights applications, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance and litigation, Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) compliance and litigation, inverse condemnation matters, and development agreements. Scott has worked with private clients and public agencies on transactional matters involving water rights, recycling, cannabis, affordable housing, construction and public works contracts, and zoning issues.

Scott’s experience includes counseling and litigation of civil actions involving contract disputes, cost recovery, torts, water rights, inverse condemnation actions, land use matters, administrative writs and appeals, and municipal election contests. Scott has litigated complex cases involving toxic tort claims, groundwater remediation claims, oil-spill/release clean-up actions, and environmental claims in both state and federal courts, and has represented clients in matters involving PCE contamination, oil spill and contamination and remediation, pollution liability, and mold remediation issues. Scott also advocates for public and private sector clients in administrative hearings before state and local agencies such as the California State Water Resources Control Board and county and local commissions, and has extensive familiarity with federal and state environmental statutes and regulations, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (California’s Proposition 65), the Hazardous Substances Account Act (HSAA), and the Polanco Redevelopment Act. Among other notable engagements, Scott successfully first chaired a 5-day bench trial involving a contested county supervisor election, with the decision affirmed on appeal, and second-chaired a water rights phase of a comprehensive groundwater adjudication involving over 200 property owners.

Scott served as an extern for the Honorable Marvin R. Baxter (retired) of the California Supreme Court. He is also active in professional associations and community organizations, including including the Sacramento County Bar Association, American Bar Association, Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), the Sacramento Community Concert Association, school site councils and homeowners’ associations, and as a Vanderbilt University Law School Alumni Interview Program volunteer. Scott has also written for trade publications and treatises on topics including environmental matters, land use disputes, and related issues.

Education

Vanderbilt University School of Law (J.D., 2007)
University of Tennessee (M.M., 2000)
Rhodes College (B.A., 1997)

Membership, Presentations, and Activities

• Attorney Volunteer, Sacramento Office of Education Mock Trial Competition (2015-present)
• Vanderbilt University Law School Admissions Alumni Interview Program (2009–present)
• National Institute of Trial Advocacy, Trial Skills Program, 2019
• Speaker, Tahoe Truckee Chamber of Commerce, California Ballot Propositions, 2016
• Speaker, California Delegation to the American Bar Association, California State Bar Admission Ceremony, Oakland, California (December 2016)
• American Bar Association: Tort, Trial and Insurance Practice (TIPS) Section, Fellow (2013-2014); TIPS Law Journal Editorial Board former member; former Vice-Chair of Directors & Officers Liability Committee and Member of Standing Committee on Ethics and Professionalism; ABA Young Lawyers’ Division Liaison to ABA Death Penalty Representation Project (2012 -2014); Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Committee
• President, Armaga Springs Homeowners’ Association, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (2009-2014)
• Volunteer Judge, National History Day, California State Competition (2015-2016)
• Los Angeles County Bar Association, Trial Advocacy training program (2014)

Publications

• “Los Angeles County Bar Association Advisory Opinion: The ‘Tripartite Relationship.’” (2017)
• Consultant, Neighbor Disputes: Law and Litigation, California CEB, 2013-2017
• “Ethanol Regulations of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Pass Constitutional Muster Under the Dormant Commerce Clause – For Now.” (MPP Environmental Law Newsletter, 2014)
• “Fifth Circuit Finds That ‘Fines and Penalties’ Exclusion in a Pollution Liability Policy Does Not Preclude Coverage for Court-Ordered Remediation Work to Remedy a Clean Air Act Violation.” (MPP Environmental Law Newsletter, 2013)
• “Proposed Law to Extend Polanco Act Powers to Local Government Agencies.” (MPP Environmental Law Newsletter, 2013)
• “No Duty to Defend Owners of Contaminated Property Against State Court Actions and Government Orders Commenced Twenty Years After Expiration of Liability Policy.” (MPP Environmental Law Newsletter, 2013)
• “Supreme Court Affirms Decision Giving Deference to EPA’s Own Determination of the Scope of Its Jurisdiction Under Clean Water Act (CWA).” (MPP Environmental Law Newsletter, 2013)
• Author, Hawaii Chapter, Professional Liability Insurance: A Compendium of State Law, Defense Research Institute. (2012)
• Author, Montana Chapter, Excess Insurance: A Compendium of State Law, Defense Research Institute. (2011)