July 21, 2001 - In the past 25 years, Thomas Miller he has won more than $400 million
suing home builders for leaky roofs and cracking stucco, he said.
As the most prominent champion of construction-defect lawsuits in
Orange County, Calif., he has sometimes been blamed for escalating home
prices -- the cost, builders say, of endless and sometimes frivolous
lawsuits.
Whatever his impact on the market, he is one of the industry's biggest
tormentors.
And he has reinforcements. Since 1994, Miller's daughter Rachel has
worked at his law firm in Newport Beach, Calif.
In 1999, the father-daughter team published a book to guide lawyers
through the process of filing a construction-defect suit. Now they've
written a handbook for consumers, "Home and Condo Defects: A Consumer
Guide to Faulty Construction."
Here, Thomas and Rachel Miller talk about their practice and their
relationship:
Q: few years ago, you co-wrote a book geared toward other lawyers about
construction defects. Who had the idea to put together a book for
homeowners?
Rachel: "It was Tom's idea. The need was pretty clear. Over the years,
I've fielded calls from all sorts of property managers and homeowners,
and they asked the same questions over and over. Sometimes people called
wanting to order the book we wrote earlier, for lawyers, and I'd say,
'No, that's not a book for the lay person.' But we kept handing them
out."
Q: How many calls does your office receive in a week from people wanting
to talk about a problem with their home?
Rachel: "About a dozen calls a week, and five to 10 e-mails a day."
Q: How many cases do you take?
Thomas: "Our Newport Beach office, which basically covers Southern
California, is working on 20 cases. We settle about one a month. They
each take about two years to resolve."
Q: How do you determine whether a homeowner's problem is worth further
investigation? Are you able to rule out a lot of people based just on a
phone call?
Thomas: "It doesn't make sense to represent just one owner. We look for
multiple owners with similar problems. Say we're talking about a
development with 100 homes; we'd hope to represent about half of the
owners. But generally the more expensive the homes, the fewer we need."
Rachel: "When people call we complete a one-page form that briefly
describes the problem, who the builder was and how old the home is.
Knowing the builder's identity can be particularly helpful if we've sued
the company before."
Thomas: "We see some builders time and again."
Q: Tom, your name is pretty well known in Orange County, particularly
among home builders. Does that very often make for uncomfortable
encounters outside the office?
Thomas: "Orange County is small in some respects but large in others.
It's large in that there is no one place people tend to congregate. But
I occasionally have spotted builders out at restaurants. I know people
in the industry talk about me. I heard about one meeting where someone
held up my picture with a big line drawn through the middle of it.
"As far as I'm concerned, our firm provides a valuable service. I've
gotten pretty thick-skinned over time. In fact, I have a yacht called
Sea of Defects docked in front of my home on Balboa Island. It's raised
a few eyebrows."
Q: Sometimes cases drag on for years. How do you keep clients from having
a nervous breakdown?
Thomas: "We have a contractor who takes care of immediate problems. We
also provide monthly status reports and quarterly disclosure statements,
which owners need if they decide to sell or refinance. And we
periodically hold meetings with the homeowners."
Rachel: "I frequently field calls on the weekend. I'm basically
available 24 hours a day."
Q: Do you ever wish you chose a less-demanding career, Rachel? You could
have been, I don't know, a dentist.
Rachel: "I never was interested in the medical profession."
Q: Tom, I understand you have a son who also is a lawyer. Does he plan to
join the firm?
Thomas: "Yes, Matthew. He graduated from Hastings College of the Law
last year. Whether he eventually does [join] will be up to him."
It's in the blood, I guess. Is your wife a lawyer by any chance?
Thomas: "No, but we were high school sweethearts. At St. Anthony's in
Long Beach."
Q: And you, Rachel?
Rachel: "No, I'm single."
Q: Rachel, what is it like to work with your dad? After all, this is the
guy who used to set your curfew.
Rachel: "I basically was raised in the practice, so I have a strong
sense of what he is trying to accomplish. In high school I spent summer
vacations answering the phone and filing documents. Now our offices are
side by side and we share a balcony. In the morning we touch base over
coffee, but the rest of the time, other than when we travel [together],
we usually work apart.
"I think we're maybe a little more open, a little more frank, because
we're father and daughter, but we never argue."
Q: Growing up, did he encourage you to become a lawyer?
Rachel: "He never said, 'Rachel, you ought to be a lawyer,' but he did
tell me that the firm could offer me a unique opportunity."
Q: Is that how you remember it, Tom? Did you look at her in the fourth
grade and see a budding partner?
Thomas: "Well, she was very argumentative growing up. She and her mom
had some huge fights. I usually tried to stay on the sidelines."
© Copyright 2008 The Miller Law Firm. All rights Reserved.
If you experience problems or have questions, contact us at Info@ConstructionDefects.com.
|
