Standing up for Landowners. Standing up to Government.
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- Biography
- Experience Highlights
- Reported Condemnation Cases
- Education
- Honors/Activities
- Publications/Presentations
Billy Coe Dyer is a board-certified civil trial attorney with more than 30 years of experience representing landowner clients against condemning authorities at the local, county, state, and national levels.
Widely recognized as an authority in the condemnation and eminent domain arenas, Dyer’s lengthy list of notable victories includes the largest jury verdict for a property owner in a condemnation case in Texas and representation of the landowner in Interstate Northborough, the Texas Supreme Court case establishing a property owner’s right to recover proximity damages from an interstate highway project, which has been cited more than 300 times since the ruling.
Dyer routinely ranks as a top legal expert on industry lists produced by The Best Lawyers in America©, Super Lawyers, and Chambers USA. Most recently, he was recognized by Best Lawyers in America© as the 2024 “Lawyer of the Year” for Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law in Houston. Dyer previously achieved this recognition in 2017.
Dyer is admitted to practice in all Texas courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Western and Southern Districts of Texas. He earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Trinity University. After graduating law school, Dyer completed a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Homer Thornberry, a federal judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Dyer is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and achieved this certification by trying condemnation cases.
- Jury verdict in 2018 for $28.9 million, 2,223% above State’s offer of $1.3 million in a partial takings case for the Grand Parkway; the State took 40 acres out of a 613 acre tract being developed as a residential subdivision in Harris County, Texas, resulting in development changes yielding a lower value; this is believed to be the largest jury verdict for a property owner in a condemnation case ever in the State of Texas (The Texas Lawbook, February 7, 2018); the State appealed, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment for the property owner; subsequently, the Texas Supreme Court denied the State’s petition for review
- Jury verdict in 2017 for $11.5 million, 426% above State’s offer of $2.7 million –in a partial takings case for the Grand Parkway for the owner of retail pad sites in front of a big-box shopping center in Montgomery County, Texas; the State appealed and then dismissed its appeal
- Jury verdict 215% above the State’s offer for the owner of a shopping center in the State’s partial taking to widen the Katy Freeway, resulting in a judgment of $9.5 million on an original offer of $4.4 million; the State appealed and then dismissed its appeal
- Jury verdict 265% above the State’s first offer – Jury trial for the owners of a restaurant and a veterinary clinic in whole taking, resulting in a judgment of $9 million, on an offer by the State of $3.4 million; the State appealed, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment for the property owner
- Settlement in 2022 of $2.17 million for owner of vacant land on SH 288 in Brazoria County on offer of $358,357, a 605% increase, for taking of 8.7 acres out of a 46.1 acre tract
- Judgment in 2021 on Special Commissioners’ Award of $6 million for self-storage operator on offer of $3.7 million
- Settlement for a major fast food restaurant owner against the State, resulting in a final judgment of $2.2 million where no compensation was initially offered by the State
- Settlement for a mall owner in a consolidated case following the partial taking by the State to widen U.S. 290, resulting in a final judgment of $32.0 million, an increase of 3,191% above the State’s offer of $972,000
- Settlement for a major chain department store owner in a consolidated case following the partial taking by the State to widen U.S. 290, resulting in a final judgment of $31 million, an increase of 276% above the initial offer of $8.2 million
- Settlement for a ranch owner in partial taking for a toll road in Travis County, resulting in a net recovery of $14.2 million, an increase of 316% above the State’s offer of $4.5 million
- Jury verdict 3,733% above State’s first offer – Jury trial for the owner of an office building in the State’s taking of a strip of land and closing of a driveway, resulting in a final judgment of $3.36 million, an increase of 3,733% above the State’s offer of $90,000
- Jury verdict 400% above the United States’ first offer for ranch owners for taking of a dune preserve for expansion of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park by U.S. Department of Interior, resulting in a final judgment of $2 million, a 400% increase over the United State’s initial offer of $300,000
- Jury trial for the owner of an automobile repair shop, resulting in a final judgment of $800,000, a 500% increase above the offer by Harris County of $160,000
- Bench trial for a fast food owner in partial taking, resulting in a a final judgment of $1.47 million, a 1,050% increase above the State’s offer of $140,000
- Settlement for a property owner operating grocery store in a partial taking case involving lost parking, resulting in a final judgment of $6.3 million, with no offer of compensation by State
- Settlement for a property owner operating a private school in a partial taking case, resulting in a final judgment of $5.3 million on the State’s offer of $700,000
- Settlement for a property owner against a pipeline company, after a temporary injunction hearing, resulting in a judgment $3 million, with no offer of compensation by the pipeline company
- Settlement for a property owner of an apartment complex in a partial taking case, resulting in a judgment of $1.15 million, an increase of 442% above the offer by Harris County of $26,000
- Settlement for the owner of an automobile dealership for taking of a strip of land by the State, resulting in a judgment of $1.33 million, a 1,272% increase on an original offer of $105,000
- State v. CC Telge Road, LP, 605 S.W.3rd 742 (Tex. App.-Hou. [1st Dist.] 2020, pet. denied)
- FKM Partnership, Ltd. v. Board of Regents of University of Houston, 255 S.W.3d 619 (Tex. 2008)
- State v. Fiesta Mart, Inc., 233 S.W.3d 50 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2007, pet. denied)
- State v. Reina, 218 S.W.3d 247 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2007, no pet.)
- State v. Delany, 197 S.W.3d 297 (Tex. 2006)
- Interstate Northborough Partnership v. State, 66 S.W.3d 213 (Tex. 2001)
- State v. Whataburger, 60 S.W.3d 256 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2001, pet. denied)
- State v. Northborough Center, Inc., 987 S.W.2d 187 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1999, rev. denied)
- Felts v. Harris County, 915 S.W.2d 482 (Tex. 1996)
- State v. Enterprise Bank-Houston, 873 S.W.2d 117 (Tex. App.—Waco 1994, writ denied)
- The University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas
- J.D. with Honors - 1985
- Trinity University
- B.A., Economics and History - 1982
- Honors: summa cum laude
- Honors: Phi Beta Kappa
- Judicial clerk to The Honorable Homer Thornberry, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- The Best Lawyers in America© (BL Rankings, LLC), “Lawyer of the Year,” Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law (Houston), 2017, 2024
- The Best Lawyers in America© (BL Rankings, LLC), (Houston): Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
- Selected to the Texas Super Lawyers list, Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), 2006, 2008, 2013–2017, 2019–2023
- Chambers USA, Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use (Texas), 2023
- “Deposing the Eminent Domain Expert,” Eminent Domain Institute CLE International 11th Annual SuperConference on Eminent Domain, February 2012
- “Cross-Examining the Eminent Domain Expert,” Eminent Domain Institute CLE International 10th Annual SuperConference on Eminent Domain, February 2011
- “Deposing the Eminent Domain Expert,” The Institute of Planning, Zoning and Eminent Domain Conference, November 2005
- “Compensability of Non-Physical Impacts of Public Works: A Game of Chance”, 34 The Urban Lawyer 171 (Winter 2002), presented at Southwestern Legal Foundation’s conference on Eminent Domain, November 2000, and at American Law Institute-American Bar Association’s Conference on Eminent Domain, January 1999 (co-author)
- “Impairment of Access: When Is It Substantial Enough to Trigger Compensation?,” Institute on Planning, Zoning and Eminent Domain Conference, November 2004 (co-author)
- “The Separate Economic Unit,” Lorman Educator’s Conference on Eminent Domain for Attorneys in Texas, October 2008 (co-author)
- “Condemning Leasehold Estates,” Harris County Attorney’s 1995 Conference on Eminent Domain
- “The Private Real Property Rights Preservation Act: From the Property Owner’s Perspective,” Houston Bar Association’s Distinguished Lecture Series, September 1996
- “Preservation Value and the Use of Sales to Government Agencies As Evidence of Value,” American Law Institute-American Bar Association Conference on Eminent Domain, January 1998 (co-author)
- Note, “The Jury on the Quarterdeck: The Effect of Pleading Admiralty Jurisdiction When a Proceeding Turns Hybrid,” 63 Texas L. Rev. 533 ,1984
- Frequent speaker at The Institute on Planning, Zoning, and Eminent Domain Conferences in Dallas and San Francisco; CLE International’s Conferences on Eminent Domain in Austin and Houston, Texas; Harris County Attorney’s Conferences on Eminent Domain; Houston Bar Association’s Distinguished Lecture Series; American Society of Real Estate Appraisers Co