Louis R. “Skip” Miller

Miller represents a broad range of clients from celebrities to Fortune 500 companies to government entities.

Among his current marquee clients are the County of Los Angeles and its board of supervisors. A chief issue now is the county’s multiple actions against Southern California Gas Company arising from the Aliso Canyon gas leak disaster which beginning in October 2015 spewed more than 100,000 tons of chemicals into the atmosphere and forced thousands of Porter Ranch families from their homes.

“We have two chief goals right now,” Miller said. “We are trying to fully abate the nuisance and to prevent reopening of the wells until all the risks have been studied and understood.”

In August he was battling for an injunction to stop the wells from reopening — a case he said could go to the state Supreme Court. “We believe the courts do have jurisdiction, and should invoke their jurisdiction, on the merits of this matter,” Miller said after a trial judge denied an injunction. “We look forward to hearing from the court of appeal on our writ petition and possibly even the California Supreme Court.”

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley ruled that he had no authority over the gas wells reopening because the law gives the California Public Utilities Commission exclusive jurisdiction over SoCalGas.

“Judge Wiley is a wonderful judge, but we don’t agree with him on this,” Miller said. “We will be taking it to the Supreme Court. We’re going to get a hearing one way or another.”

Meanwhile, Miller said he’s gratified by the way his litigation boutique is developing legal talent. One young partner, Amnon Z. Siegel, recently obtained a $256.45 million jury verdict against Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. on behalf of an auto dealer.

“I’m really proud of ’em,” he said. “I trained them all, I’m showing them the way. They are becoming battle-tested. In that Nissan case, I was going to try it, but Siegel went down and did it himself.

“I’m old but this work keeps me young,” Miller said. “It was always my business plan to staff this firm with the next generation.”

— John Roemer