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Adam E. Miller

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“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” – Winston Churchill

Practice Groups

Areas of Concentration

  • Manufacturing
  • Business Litigation
  • Product Liability
  • Toxic Tort

Experience at Work

Adam is an experienced trial lawyer practicing in the areas of product liability, toxic tort, property diminution, and patent litigation.  His practice focuses on complex mass tort and class action product liability litigation involving consumer and commercial products containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), benzene, solvents, endocrine disruptors, dioxins, and tobacco products. He regularly defends manufacturers, suppliers and industrial users of these products against claims involving cancers, thyroid and endocrine disorders, neurodevelopmental deficiencies, pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and medical monitoring.

Adam has advanced experience in the development of medical and scientific defenses and trial strategies relating to defense-critical technical issues, including the identification and development of medical and scientific expert witnesses and the effective cross examination of opposing technical and scientific experts.  Additionally, he specializes in the legal and scientific responses to claims for medical monitoring, future medical surveillance, and allegations of property diminution relating to the discharge of contaminants into the environment.

Memberships & Associations

Awards & Designations

Publications

  • A Practitioner’s Guide to Class Actions, Second Ed., 2017
  • “Eat, Drink, but Be Wary: Plaintiffs’ New Attack on Chemicals in the Food Chain,” In-House Defense Quarterly, Defense Research Institute, Winter 2014

Presentations

  • “Eat, Drink, but Be Wary: Plaintiffs’ New Attack on Chemicals in the Food Chain,” DRI Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Seminar, February 2014
  • “Environmental Law, Future Regulatory Policies and Law on Going Green,” The Missouri Bar, September 2009
  • Speaker, “Medical Monitoring,” Defense Research Institute, 2004

Significant Representations

  • Adam serves as national coordinating counsel for a Fortune 100 client defending public nuisance cases brought by several states and multiple municipalities along the west coast of the United States and elsewhere. These claims arise out of the environmental presence of PCBs in streams, sediments, waste water and MS4 conveyance systems.
  • Participated in the trial teams that obtained multiple defense verdicts in favor of Monsanto Co. in multi-plaintiff PCB/non-Hodgkin Lymphoma cases tried in state courts in Missouri and Los Angeles in May, 2014, June 2015, September 2015, and March 2016. Developed key scientific and medical defenses for this case and dozens of similar cases pending in multiple jurisdictions.
  • Obtained a defense verdict for Monsanto Co. in the first-ever PCB personal injury cases to be tried to verdict in Alabama. Verdict followed the Court’s exclusion of dismissed plaintiffs’ key medical causation witness prior to and during trial.
  • Defended client in federal court in San Jose, Calif., in more than 250 related lawsuits, including putative class action cases, alleging groundwater contamination arising from historical use of perchlorate. A four-week jury trial resulted in a complete defense verdict in selected bellwether cases. All remaining cases resolved favorably for the client.
  • Defended a cigarette manufacturer against a certified class of West Virginia smokers seeking medical monitoring for lung cancers and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) involving the use of low-dose helical computed tomography (CT) scans and positive electron topography in 2001. The case resulted in a defense verdict and was identified by the National Law Journal as a “verdict of the week.”
  • Co-tried numerous patent actions on behalf of Monsanto Co. seeking damages for the infringing uses of Monsanto’s biotechnology traits.
  • Defended client in more than 250 related lawsuits alleging groundwater contamination arising from the historical use of perchlorate

Licensed to Practice

  • Missouri
  • Illinois

Education

  • J.D., Washington University School of Law (1990)
  • B.A., Northwestern University (1987)

Adam Miller’s News & Insights

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Twenty Capes Sokol Attorneys Recognized as 2021 Best Lawyers in America ©

Twenty attorneys at Capes Sokol, representing every practice area of the firm, have been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America © 2021 edition. Lisa M. Adams, Sanford J. Boxerman, David V. Capes, Jeffrey A. Cohen, Drey A. Cooley, Kelley F. Farrell, Amy…
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Miller Elected to International Association of Defense Counsel

The law firm of Capes Sokol is pleased to announce that Adam E. Miller, Capes Sokol Shareholder, has been elected to membership in the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC). Membership in the IADC, a prestigious professional association established in 1920, is reserved for a…
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Appellate Court Affirms Dismissal of PCB Claims Against Capes Sokol Clients

  Adam Miller and Capes Sokol attorneys helped secure the dismissal of claims brought by a school district in Massachusetts seeking to hold Defendants Monsanto Company, Pharmacia Corp., and Solutia, Inc. liable for the presence of PCBs that the Town of Westport claimed required a…
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