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Ben Miller
Partner
Table of Contents
When someone asks what I do, I tell them I’m a lawyer who tries to help people who haven’t been treated the way they should be. Most of my clients are nursing home residents — or their families — who haven’t received the care the nursing home promised, and those broken promises almost always come down to putting profits over people. In other words, the corporations that own nursing homes decide they’d rather make more money than provide better care to their residents. I work to hold those corporations accountable — not just for my clients, but for all of us, because even if you don’t know someone living in a nursing home right now, chances are you eventually will. Ben is a partner in The Higgins Firm’s Nursing Home Division, which handles nursing home abuse and neglect cases across Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Illinois, and through pro hac vice admission in states nationwide.
Accountability drives change. The more we hold nursing homes responsible for these profit-driven decisions, the less business sense it makes for them to keep operating that way. Instead of trying to save money by keeping their facilities understaffed, the smarter business plan is to make sure their employees have the support they need to properly care for residents. Instead of underpaying their nurses and aides for the incredibly difficult work they do — which inevitably leads to high turnover and, in turn, poor care — the better approach is to take care of their employees so their employees can take care of their residents.
This principle isn’t unique to nursing homes, and nursing home residents aren’t the only clients I represent. Whether it’s a hospital discharging patients too early because it knows it can make more money by freeing up a bed for a new patient, a manufacturer that cuts corners on product safety, or a debt collection agency using computers to make thousands of automated harassment calls because it’s cheaper than hiring employees, my goal is the same: hold them accountable for putting profits over people and make them treat people better.
Although I have exclusively represented plaintiffs since 2015, that wasn’t always the case. Before joining The Higgins Firm, I spent nearly ten years on the other side, defending individuals and companies that had been sued across the state. I am licensed to practice in all state and federal courts in Tennessee and now represent plaintiffs in those same courts.
So why the switch? When you represent plaintiffs, it’s usually because something bad has happened to them and you’re trying to make things better. When you represent defendants, you’re mostly just trying to keep things from getting worse. I’d rather try to make things better, and I believe you can accomplish a lot more in terms of how people are treated when you focus on positive change instead of damage control.
I was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, and Nashville turned out to be a pretty natural destination — even if it doesn’t seem that way at first. In 1977, my grandmother moved from Ohio and founded a small business, Designs by Norvell, in Alexandria, Tennessee. Most of the family followed to join the family business, but by then my father already had his own law firm up and running, so my mom, my dad, and I stayed behind — at least for a while.
In 1999, I headed south to attend Vanderbilt University, though I still had one final detour before settling in Nashville. After graduating in 2003, I went to Wake Forest University School of Law for two very important reasons: to earn my law degree and to meet my wife.
Elizabeth and I returned to Nashville in 2006, and after the birth of my parents’ only grandchild — our son Henry — they didn’t wait long to make the move themselves.
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Your health comes first. We’ll point you to the right doctors and make sure your injuries are documented.
We dig deep to get the facts. Police reports, witness statements, expert opinions – we leave no stone unturned.
Time to play hardball. We craft a demand that tells your story and asks for what you deserve.
We don’t back down. Whether it’s tough negotiations or a court battle, we’re in it to win it.
The finish line. With fair compensation in hand, you can finally move on and focus on what matters.
