Billy Coe Dyer
Texas Tower
845 Texas Avenue
Suite 4700
Houston, Texas 77002
The thing I like most about my job is leveling the playing field for property owners against the government. We have the experience of dealing with the right-of-way piece, the appraisal piece and the legal piece. We can counter all of the force and experience of the government, absorb it and stand up to the government for the property owner. Billy Coe Dyer is a civil trial attorney whose practice is primarily focused on eminent domain litigation. With more than 30 years of experience, Billy has represented clients against condemning authorities at the local, county, state and national levels.
A prepared and persuasive advocate in court, Billy has handled cases involving the taking of property improved with office buildings, shopping centers, self-storage facilities, car dealerships, service stations, convenience stores, restaurants, retail spaces and warehouses, hotels, banks, schools, churches, homes and ranches. He has also represented clients in matters involving the taking of vacant land.
Billy’s notable victories include a case that his client won before the Texas Supreme Court. The Court held that, after the State of Texas condemned property for an interstate highway project, the property owner was entitled to recover proximity damages to its remainder property under Texas law. The Supreme Court’s opinion has since been cited by over 300 cases. In another high-profile case, Billy and fellow V&E partner Don Griffin won a $28.9 million verdict for a property owner against the State.
Prior to joining V&E, Billy completed a one-year a clerkship for a federal judge, an experience that gave him powerful insights on which arguments have traction with the court. He has been board certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1993. During his decades in practice, his work has earned him recognition from multiple publications. In 2017, he was selected as Best Lawyers of America’s Houston Eminent Domain and Condemnation Lawyer of the Year.
Experience Highlights
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)
Credentials
- University of Texas School of Law, J.D. with honors, 1985 (Order of the Coif; Associate Editor, Texas Law Review)
- Trinity University, B.A., Economics and History summa cum laude, 1982 (Phi Beta Kappa)
- Judicial clerk to The Honorable Homer Thornberry, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1985–1986
- The Best Lawyers in America© (BL Rankings, LLC), “Lawyer of the Year,” Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law (Houston), 2017 and 2024
- The Best Lawyers in America© (BL Rankings, LLC), (Houston): Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law, 2010–2024; Litigation–Real Estate, 2023
- 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
- Member: American Bar Association; Houston Bar Association
- Member: Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists
- Faculty: 2008 NITA Gulf Coast Regional Trial Advocacy Training Program
- Faculty: Louisiana State University Trial Advocacy Program (2012–13)
- Texas
- all Texas courts
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. District Courts for the Western and Southern Districts of Texas
- Rankings & AwardsSeptember 18, 2023
- Rankings & AwardsAugust 21, 2023
- Rankings & AwardsJune 1, 2023
- Rankings & AwardsAugust 18, 2022
- Rankings & AwardsMarch 29, 2022
- Deals & CasesMarch 17, 2021
- InsightOctober 16, 2018
- “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 Conference