Wilbur Kingsbury Miller
Judge Miller no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Miller decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He construed statutes to their sensible purpose, rejecting readings that would produce absurd results he would not attribute to Congress.
“Any other construction of the statute could lead to absurd results which we cannot believe Congress intended.”
Procedural preferences
Miller enforced the precise statutory allocation of who may act in tax assessment, voiding any assessment made by an official or board not designated by law.
“An assessment can be made only by an official or board designated by law to make it. An attempted assessment by any other person or board is void.”
On summary judgment he reversed where the affidavits and depositions raised a genuine issue of material fact for trial.
“was a genuine issue of material fact raised as to whether Lockhart was acting within the scope of his employment when the accident happened”
Cautions
Miller trimmed agency remedial orders to the parties and conduct actually proved, striking overbroad language reaching third parties.
“We think the Board's order should be limited to the employees of the Virginia-Carolina company and the David Weber Company”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Not applicable to this circuit-court record.
A historical record
Judge Miller no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.