Brian C. Miller
Top rated Appellate attorney in Corpus Christi, Texas
Royston, Rayzor, Vickery & Williams, LLP
Practice Areas: Appellate, Business Litigation, Civil Rights; view more
Licensed in Texas since: 1997
Education: The University of Texas School of Law
Call today:
361-884-8808
Royston, Rayzor, Vickery & Williams, LLP
802 North Carancahua StreetSuite 1300
Corpus Christi, TX 78401 Visit website
Details
Brian Miller is a board-certified civil appellate lawyer and a partner at Royston Rayzor. He focuses on appeals and complex motions in a variety of civil litigation cases, including personal injury, employment, civil rights, construction, and commercial cases. He has participated in over 125 appeals, several of which have resulted in important clarifications of Texas and federal law.
Mr. Miller served as the 2021 Chair of the American Bar Association's Council of Appellate Lawyers. He has also served on the State Bar of Texas' board of directors, in the American Bar Association's House of Delegates, and on the executive board of the alumni association for his alma mater, the University of Texas School of Law.
Mr. Miller served seven years on the State Bar's Pattern Jury Charge Oversight Committee, which coordinates, considers, and approves the standard jury instructions used in Texas courts. He has also served on the State Bar's Court Rules Committee, which proposes improvements to the procedural rules used in state courts. In addition, his peers selected him for fellowship in the Texas Bar Foundation and the American Bar Foundation, and he is a life fellow in both organizations.
Practice areas
Appellate, Business Litigation, Civil Rights, Employment & Labor: Employer, Employment Litigation: DefenseFocus areas
Appeals
- 50% Appellate
- 20% Business Litigation
- 10% Civil Rights
- 10% Employment & Labor: Employer
- 10% Employment Litigation: Defense
First Admitted: 1997, Texas
Professional Webpage: https://www.roystonlaw.com/attorneys-72
- Member, Council of Appellate Lawyers (chair, 2020-2021, secretary, 2019-2020, executive board, 2017-present, and member, Appellate Judges Education Institute Planning Committee, 2010-2011, 2013-2014, 2016-present) (part of the American Bar Association's Judicial Division)
- State Bar of Texas: Member, Board of Directors, 2014-2017
- Member, Executive Committee, University of Texas School of Law Alumni Association (2016-2020)
- Pattern Jury Charge Oversight Committee, State Bar of Texas (member, 2017-2023, advisor from State Bar board, 2016-2017)
- Court Rules Committee of the State Bar of Texas (member, 2011-2014, advisor from State Bar board of directors, 2014-2016)
- Member, American Bar Association House of Delegates (elected as young lawyer representative of the State Bar of Texas) (2009-2011)
- Member, American Bar Association House of Delegates Committee on Issues of Concern to the Legal Profession (2010-2011)
- Member, Joint Amicus Curiae Briefs Committee of the Judicial Division’s Lawyers Conference and Council of Appellate Lawyers, ABA's Judicial Division, 2013-2019
- Employment Law & Litigation Committee of the ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (vice-chair, 2016-2021, member, 2014-present)
- ABA, Chair, Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Appellate Advocacy Committee, 2013-2014 (chair-elect, 2012-2013, vice-chair, 2009-2012). Vice chair, Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Employment Law Committee, 2016-2020.
- Member, College of the State Bar of Texas (2007-present)
- Texas Young Lawyers Association, Member, Board of Directors, 2006-2008
- Corpus Christi Bar Association
- Corpus Christi Bar Young Lawyers Association, Vice President, 2005-2006, 2008-2009, Secretary, 1999-2000, 2004-2005, Member, Board of Directors, 1999-2000, 2003-2009
- State of Texas U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit Registered patent attorney
- Nickerson v. Unique Employment I Ltd., 2024 WL 48183 (Tex. App. - Corpus Christi 2024, pet. denied) (affirmed take-nothing summary judgment on respondeat superior, negligent hiring, and other claims against client temporary-staffing agency, in suit alleging that plaintiff's co-worker, supplied by agency, caused backhoe to hit plaintiff), 2024
- Britt v. Nueces County, 2024 WL 346525 (S.D. Tex. 2024) (granting motion to dismiss wrongful-transfer claims against clients upon concluding that assistant district attorneys exercise policymaking powers and therefore lack First Amendment protection from patronage actions), 2024
- Rodriguez v. City of Corpus Christi, 2023 WL 6149914 and 2023 WL 5706253 (S.D. Tex. 2023) (pretrial dismissal, on summary judgment, of former health director's underpayment and retaliatory-termination claims under Fair Labor Standards Act, Equal Pay Act, Title VII, and other statutes), 2023
- Ryan Marine Services Inc. v. Hoffman, 668 S.W.3d 171 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st Dist.] 2023, no pet.) (court reversed the denial of a motion to transfer venue of a triple-fatality suit, concluding that the applicable venue statute allowed a pretrial appeal and that a ruling in an earlier suit established venue for subsequent suits involving substantially overlapping parties), 2023
- Winn v. Brunswick Corp., 2022 WL 17716385 (5th Cir. 2022) (arbitration agreement’s allocation of arbitration expenses did not improperly curtail the plaintiff’s rights under civil-rights statutes), 2022
- City of Port Isabel v. Brownsville Navigation District, 2022 WL 17260509 (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi Nov. 29, 2022, no pet.) (affirming dismissal of suit to block construction of liquified-natural-gas terminals because suit was an impermissible collateral attack on decisions that the federal Natural Gas Act reserved to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), 2022
- Cameron County v. Sossi, 2022 WL 4374994 (Tex. App. - Corpus Christi 2022, no pet. hist.) (reversed denial of client county's plea to the jurisdiction because state-law official immunity protected park ranger's good-faith conduct that allegedly caused vehicular collision), 2022
- Martinez v. Haas-Anderson Construction Ltd., 2022 WL 548291 (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi 2022, pet. den.) (affirming dismissal of purported common-law spouse’s wrongful-death claim because a prior underage marriage was only voidable during minority and not void from the outset), 2022
- Molly McArdle’s L.L.C. v. Lara, 2021 WL 1418232 (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi 2021, no pet.): (reversed wrongful-death verdict against a bar in dram-shop suit and rendered take-nothing judgment), 2021
- Garza v. Escobar, 972 F.3d 721 (5th Cir. 2020) (affirmed dismissal, on pleadings, of employee’s First Amendment political-retaliation suit against district attorney), 2020
- Garza v. Escobar, 972 F.3d 721 (5th Cir. 2020) (affirming dismissal, on the pleadings, of former Crime Victims Unit Coordinator's First Amendment retaliation claims against District Attorney that employed her), 2020
- Pension Advisory Group Inc. v. Fidelity Security Life Insurance Company, 2020 WL 1181256 (Tex. App. - Corpus Christi Mar. 12, 2020, no pet.) (affirming summary judgment that dismissed insurance agent's defamation and civil-conspiracy claims against clients, an insurance company and its vice-president), 2020
- Chow v. San Pedro, 2019 WL 4021908 (Tex. App. -- Houston [14th Dist.] Aug. 27, 2019, no pet. hist.) (Court of Appeals partially dismissed suit against client former executives of international business for lack of personal jurisdiction over dismissed claims; among other things, court agreed that general personal jurisdiction must be based on domicile at time of suit and not past residency in jurisdiction), 2019
- Barrett v. Berry Contracting L.P., 2019 WL 4866041 (Tex. App. -- Corpus Christi Oct. 3, 2019, no pet. hist.) (affirming dismissal of claims against client engineering company, appellate court held that plaintiff could not remedy failure to comply with certificate-of-merit statute by attempting to file certificate with amended petition), 2019
- Nickerson v. Pineda, 2019 WL 2041774 (Tex. App. -- Corpus Christi May 9, 2019, pet. filed) (appellate court agreed that client backhoe operator, supplied to a city by client employment agency, was the city's borrowed servant and therefore entitled to statutory immunity available to governmental employees), 2019
- City of Brownsville v. City of Port Isabel, 2018 WL 6629182 (Tex. App. -- Corpus Christi Dec. 19, 2018, no pet.) (appellate court held that trial court had jurisdiction to consider client city's challenge to neighboring city's annexation ordinances), 2018
- In re Wood Group PSN Inc., 2018 WL 4760139 (Tex. App. -- San Antonio Oct. 3, 2018, orig. proceeding) (served as lead counsel for group of 22 defendants; appellate court granted mandamus relief, sought by defendants, to compel trial judge to dismiss county's road-damage claims against clients and 19 other defendants; appellate court concluded that neither frequent use of road nor county's conclusory allegations were sufficient to support a legal duty), 2018
- Gutierrez v. Stewart Title Co., 550 S.W.3d 804 (Tex. App. -- Houston [14th Dist.] 2018, no pet.) (appellate court agreed that misrepresentation claims against title company were barred by limitations despite claimed discovery years after transaction) , 2018
- Lumpkin v. Aransas County, 224 F.Supp.3d 513 (S.D. Tex. 2016), aff'd 712 Fed. Appx. 350 (5th Cir. 2017) (obtained - and sustained on appeal - summary judgment for defendant county in suit by former employees who claimed retaliation in violation of their free-speech rights), 2017
- Hensel Phelps Inc. v. Royal American Services Inc., 2017 WL 4682181 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st Dist.] 2017, no pet.) (agreeing that third party's removal of protective piece did not arise out of subcontractor client's work, such that client was not liable to general contractor for indemnity), 2017
- Young v. Heins, 2017 WL 2376828 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st Dist.] 2017, pet. denied) (obtained affirmance of summary judgment, establishing board member's statutory immunity defense, in suit by disgruntled homeowner against homeowners association and its management), 2017
- Cox v. Nueces County, 154 F.Supp.3d 496 (S.D. Tex. 2015), aff'd 839 F.3d 418 (5th Cir. 2016) (concluding that res judicata barred First Amendment retaliation suit against county and its sheriff because plaintiffs could have raised constitutional claims in a later-filed but earlier-concluded suit for judicial review of an adverse ruling of county's civil service commission), 2016
- Vasquez v. Legend Natural Gas III L.P., 492 S.W.3d 448 (Tex. App. - San Antonio 2016, pet. den.) (obtained affirmance of judgment dismissing wrongful-death suit, with Court of Appeals agreeing that oilfield-industry users of county road did not owe duty to repair road or warn of possible dust clouds on road), 2016
- International Association of Drilling Contractors v. Orion Drilling Co., 512 S.W.3d 483 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st Dist.] 2016, pet. filed) (court rejected opponent's claims of a First Amendment privilege and a statutory privilege from disclosure of the identity of an individual who supplied defamatory material), 2016
- Coastal Motorcars Ltd. v. Brown, 2015 WL 6651536 (Tex. App. - Corpus Christi 2015, no pet.) (obtained reversal of summary judgment against client automobile dealer in customer's suit alleging undisclosed defects in automobile), 2015
- Kris William Builders Inc. v. Tranquility Lakes Owners Assn. Inc., 2015 WL 5770019 (Tex. App. -- Houston [1st Dist.] 2015, no pet.) (obtained affirmance of summary judgment in favor of client in building contractor's suit alleging breach of contracts for repair of hurricane damage), 2015
- Elizondo v. Keppel Amfels L.L.C., 2015 WL 1976434 (S.D. Tex. 2015) (district-court opinion agreeing with our analysis of diversity-jurisdiction issue and concluding that limited liability company, notwithstanding office and executives in Texas, was foreign citizen entitled to remove suit to federal court), 2015
- Bruington Engineering Inc. v. Pedernal Energy L.L.C., 456 S.W.3d 181 (Tex. App. – San Antonio 2014) (ordering dismissal of claims against client engineering firm with prejudice after plaintiff's unexcused violation of certificate-of-merit statute), rev'd 2017 WL 1737920 (Tex. 2017) (ordering dismissal without prejudice instead), 2014
- In re Emex Holdings L.L.C., 2013 WL 1683614 (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi 2013, orig. proceeding) (in mandamus proceeding, obtained reversal of trial court's denial of client's motion to enforce forum-selection clause in international business dispute), 2013
- Ramirez v. Martinez, 716 F.3d 369 (5th Cir. 2013) (reversing in part denial of summary judgment, holding that client peace officer was not liable for false arrest of plaintiff), 2013
- Cuellar v. Keppel Amfels L.L.C., 731 F.3d 342 (5th Cir. 2013) (client secondary employer did not interfere with the plaintiff's Family and Medical Leave Act rights when the plaintiff did not first apply for reinstatement with her primary employer, a placement agency), 2013
- Legacy Home Health Agency Inc. v. Apex Primary Care Inc., 2013 WL 5305238 (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi 2013, pet. den.) (reversing temporary injunction against client in suit by competitor), 2013
- Brannan Paving G.P. L.L.C. v. Pavement Markings Inc., 446 S.W.3d 14 (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi 2013, pet. den.) (reversing take-nothing judgment in client's suit against subcontractor for failure to procure additional insured coverage on subcontractor's insurance policy) , 2013
- Bruington Engineering Inc. v. Pedernal Energy L.L.C., 403 S.W.3d 523 (Tex. App. – San Antonio 2013, no pet.) (ordering dismissal of claims against client engineering firm, as plaintiff could not circumvent certificate of merit statute by nonsuiting its claims and refiling the same claims by an amended petition), 2013
- In re St. Paul Surplus Lines Ins. Co., 2012 WL 2015796 (Tex. App. - Houston [14th Dist.] 2012, orig. proc.) (obtained mandamus relief to sever and stay proceedings on extracontractual claims against client insurer until resolution of coverage claim), 2012
- Salinas v. Briggs Ranches, 350 S.W.3d 218 (Tex. App. - San Antonio 2011, no pet.) (agreeing with our arguments concerning employer liability for off-duty employees and affirming take-nothing judgment in favor of client in wrongful-death suit), 2011
- Emex Holdings LLC v. Naim, 2010 WL 2163139 (Tex. App. - Corpus Christi 2010, no pet.) (reversing temporary injunction in commercial dispute), 2010
- Gulf Coast Shell and Aggregate L.P. v. Newlin, 623 F.3d 235 (5th Cir. 2010) (reversing trial court judgment and ordering dismissal, for lack of admiralty jurisdiction, of investors' claims against client), 2010
- Charles Machine Works Inc. v. Butler Rental and Sales Inc., 327 S.W.3d 779 (Tex. App. - Corpus Christi 2010, pet. denied) (affirming indemnity award against manufacturer and in favor of retailer client in products liability action), 2010
- Ex parte Lovill, 287 S.W.3d 65 (Tex. App. - Corpus Christi 2008), rev'd on other grounds 2009 WL 4827511 (Tex. Cr. App. 2009) (criminal justice system cannot impose additional sanctions because a defendant is pregnant), 2008
- Low v. Henry, 221 S.W.3d 609 (Tex. 2007) (clarifying pre-suit investigation standards and limiting use of "group pleadings" that make numerous allegations not tied to specific defendants), 2007
- Jin v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 310 F.3d 84 (2nd Cir. 2002) (adopting amicus curiae arguments regarding employer liability for quid pro quo sexual harassment), 2002
- Board Certified -- Civil Appellate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 2009
- Licensed to practice in patent cases before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 2002
- Kids Law Library at Los Encinos Elementary School
- University of Texas Law School Alumni Association
- Member, State Bar of Texas Pro Bono College, 2002 - 2003, 2010
- Coach, various youth-basketball teams, 2014-2024.
- Coach, Gregory-Portland youth-soccer clubs, Portland, Texas (2017-2024)
- Texas Edition of Super Lawyers, 2014
- American Bar Endowment Outstanding Public Service Project Award at the 2007 ABA Annual Meeting
- Texas Rising Stars Editions, Texas Edition, 2011 - 2013
- Outstanding Young Lawyer, Corpus Christi Young Lawyers Association, 2009
- Selected and inducted as Fellow (becoming Life Fellow in 2017), American Bar Foundation, 2014
- Selected and inducted as Fellow (becoming Life Fellow in 2015), Texas Bar Foundation, 2007
- Rice University, B.S. Chemical Engineering, B.A. (Economics), magna cum laude, 1994
- With electronic briefing moving past its infancy and becoming more commonplace, some questions arise: Are practitioners and courts effectively using the features and benefits that electronic briefing can offer? Is artificial intelligence affecting how electronic briefs are prepared and reviewed? What does the future hold for electronic briefing? This program will provide practitioner and judicial perspectives on those questions and more. The panel will discuss underappreciated tools and techniques for writing and analyzing electronic briefs, including persuasive imagery, lesser-known features of Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat, and brief-analysis tools from legal-research platforms. The panel will also discuss why appellate practitioners should account for artificial intelligence when preparing their briefs and when appellate courts may ethically use artificial-intelligence tools to examine arguments and the record. The panel will close with a discussion of changes that may happen as electronic briefing matures, including technological changes that are feasible now, existing practices that may become obsolete, and how the appellate record of the future may differ from what we use now., Moderator and Speaker, It’s Past Time for Real E-Briefing, Appellate Judges Education Institute (November 2024), 2024
- This speech and accompanying article discussed how appellate lawyers can help trial counsel, including and beyond the typical assistance given at jury-charge conferences and on appeal. Topics included the benefit of an appellate lawyer's experience and perspectives in case evaluation before filing suit, prosecution and defense of challenges to the sufficiency of pleadings, jurisdictional and venue motions, and jury-charge preparation. Topics also included how Texas' Pattern Jury Charges are created and revised and how appellate lawyers' skill sets complement those of trial lawyers., Speaker, The Jury Charge and More: How Appellate Counsel Can Help You Evaluate and Litigate a Case, Coastal Bend Women Lawyers Association, 2024
- Building a Winning Combination: The Benefits of an Appellate Lawyer on Your Trial Team, panelist for program presented at State Bar of Texas seminar, 2023
- Qualified Immunity, panelist for program presented at Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit with co-panelists Karen Blum (Professor, Suffolk University Law School) and Lisa Soronen (Executive Director, State and Local Legal Center)., https://www.judges.org/appellate_judges_edu/2022-summit/, Government, Appellate, 2022
- Defending Against Claims of “Off-the-Clock” Work, article for American Bar Association publication TortSource, 2022
- Various articles - Judicial Division Record (2020-2021), Appellate Issues (2018-present), and Council of Appellate Lawyers Newsletter (2020-2022), articles written for ABA Judicial Division and Council of Appellate Lawyers publications about program previews and recaps and about Council activities
- Recent Developments in Employment Law and Litigation, articles co-authored for 2018, 2021, and 2022 annual-survey issues of the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal.
- CAL program: Elite panel discusses "Blockbuster" opinions and future of the Supreme Court, article authored for the October issue of the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers' Appellate Issues, 2018
- Recent Developments in Appellate Advocacy, annual articles co-authored with other appellate lawyers for the Winter issues of Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal, 2013, 2015, and 2016
- The Leap from E-Filing to E-Briefing: Recommendations and Options for Appellate Courts to Improve the Functionality and Readability of E-Briefs, member of ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers special committee that prepared 62-page report to advise appellate courts and lawyers of recommended practices and other considerations for transitioning from paper to electronic filings and records, 2016
- Practical Legal Writing Both Inside and Outside the Courtroom, presentation with Audrey Vicknair to the Coastal Bend Women Lawyers Association, 2016
- Supreme Court to Consider Validity of Class-Action and Collective-Action Waivers in Employees' Arbitration Agreements, article co-authored with Joel de la Garza for the newsletter of the Employment Law and Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association's Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, 2017
- Defending Civil Rights Litigation, presentation in Corpus Christi for the State Bar of Texas' Appellate Section and Government Law Section, 2017
- Texas Supreme Court Update, presentation with Audrey Vicknair at the Corpus Christi Bar Association Advanced Personal Injury Trial Law Seminar, 2016
- Protected Classes, presentation at the Coastal Bend Society for Human Resource Management's Employment Law Seminar, 2016
- Fun with Jurisdiction and Venue: Recent Developments and Notable Nuances, paper and presentation for the Corpus Christi Bar Association Advanced Personal Injury Law Seminar, 2015
- Recent Developments in Appellate Advocacy, article co-authored with Alex Valdes, Julianna Thomas McCabe, Kimberly Mello, Joshua D. Lee, and Andre Mura and published in the Winter issue of the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal, 2015
- Supreme Court Monitoring Subcommittee E-Newsletter, co-author of periodic newsletters (published by the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section) on Supreme Court cases of interest to tort, trial, and insurance practitioners, 2015
- Religious Accommodation After EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch, authored for the Summer newsletter of the Employment Law & Litigation Committee of the ABA's Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, 2015
- Damages Models in Employee Class and Collective Actions: Will Expediency or Accuracy Prevail?, authored for the Fall newsletter of the Employment Law & Litigation Committee of the ABA's Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, 2015
- Immunity, article for and presented at the Corpus Christi Bar Association Personal Injury Trial Law Seminar, 2014
- Crossing the Threshold: Statutory Expert Reports in Suits Against Professionals, authored for and presented at the Corpus Christi Bar Association Advanced Personal Injury Law Seminar, 2013
- Recent Developments in Appellate Advocacy, article co-authored with Joshua D. Lee and Daniel Deutsch for the Winter issue of Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal, 2013
- U.S. Supreme Court Update, authored for and presented at the Corpus Christi Bar Association Advanced Personal Injury Law Seminar, 2012
- Some Points of Interest at the Intersection of Arbitration and the Appellate System, published in the Fall issue of ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Appellate News, 2011
- U.S. Supreme Court Update, presented to the Corpus Christi Bar Association, 2011
- Prosecuting and Defending Motions to Compel Arbitration: What Works, What Won't, authored for and presented to the Corpus Christi Bar Association Advanced Personal Injury Law Seminar, 2011
- Emerging Issues in Appellate Review of Batson Challenges, authored for the American Bar Association Annual Meeting, Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, 2010
- Co-author of Employment Law Basics for New Employers, a 32-page guide published by the Texas Young Lawyers Association, 2008
- Recent Developments in Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property Infringement Claims, co-authored with Robert Lytle for the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s 2002 Spring Meeting and published in the February issue of the journal IP Litigator, 2003
- Created and led implementation of Kids Law Library, which involved the donation of law-related children's books to an elementary school and a book report contest. This project won the American Bar Endowment Most Outstanding Public Service Project Award at the 2007 American Bar Association Annual Meeting.
- Creator and co-organizer of initial (2005) Baseball with the Bench continuing legal education program, the main fundraiser for the Corpus Christi Young Lawyers Association for 10 years.
- Member, Texas Democratic Party Platform Committee (2004 convention), Rules Committee (2006, 2008 conventions)
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Office location for Brian C. Miller
802 North Carancahua Street
Suite 1300
Corpus Christi, TX 78401
Phone: 361-884-8808
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2014 - 2024
- Rising Stars: 2011 - 2013