Susan Dillon Ayers

Founded in 2011, Hutcheson Bowers LLLP is an innovative boutique firm, created by two women who have built a firm of problem solvers. But solving any one problem for our clients is not enough. By analyzing the big picture, our goal is to minimize the disruption that legal problems can create for our clients so they can focus on their business. With every client, we strive to get to the heart of the matter.

In 2024, Sue Ayers joined the firm as a partner, bringing her leading eminent domain practice with her. Sue also brings extensive commercial litigation experience and serves as the firm’s litigation specialist for its thriving financial services and employment law practices. As we close out the 2020s and head into the 2030s, the firm looks forward to staying on the cutting edge of this country’s economic growth while harnessing that special wisdom that only comes from experience.

Sue Ayers has more than two decades of trial experience in Texas state and federal courts. Her approach is always practical, owing to her nine years as a high school English teacher. Sue started her career at Baker Botts LLP, representing clients in the trial and appeal of cases ranging from wrongful death to breach of contract. She represented the Receiver appointed over one of the largest Ponzi schemes ever investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and filed pleadings on his behalf in every federal district court in the United States and all U.S. Territories.

Sue spent fourteen years at Jackson Walker LLP, the largest law firm in Texas. During that time, she added condemnation and eminent domain to her practice. Sue has helped clients acquire thousands of parcels of property required for some of the most important infrastructure projects in Texas, including the following: 

• The first CREZ electric transmission line and 3 substations, crossing 671 parcels and 320 miles in 11 counties, featured as a Top 10 Infrastructure Project of 2013 by the International Right of Way Association. web_janfeb_14_LoneStar.pdf

• The largest capital project in the history of Union Pacific Railroad, for a railyard in Robertson County. Union Pacific Brazos Yard construction underway, largest facility capital investment in company history - Texas Rail Advocates 

• The expansion of U.S. Highway 183 South in Travis County, for the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. 183 Toll | Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority

• Condemnations to acquire easements for water and wastewater pipelines in Central Texas for the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority. Operations - Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority

• Condemnations in 15 counties for Targa Resource Corp.’s Grand Prix NGL pipeline from the Permian Basin to Mont Belvieu. Targa Downstream LLC Grand Prix Pipeline.pdf

While most condemnation cases are in state court, Sue has represented plaintiffs and defendants in condemnation cases in federal court. Sue and her team have provided the following scope of services:

• Attorney in Charge, in hundreds of condemnation cases in state courts throughout Texas.

• Evaluation and review of title, including coordination with title companies to ensure that title insurance can be secured in cases resolved by litigation or settlement. 

• Preparation and filing of all legal pleadings, including petitions, notices, motions, and judgments. 

• Communication and coordination with special commissioners to confirm eligibility and to schedule hearings timely. 

• Drafting written discovery requests, responses, and motions; taking and defending depositions in a wide variety of civil cases, in state and federal court. 

• Appearance in dozens of special commissioner hearings, negotiation of hundreds of settlements, with and without mediation. Trial of a dozen condemnation cases to jury verdict. 

• Representation of Protestant at the State Office of Administrative Hearings in a TCEQ wastewater permitting case involving over 20 experts in hydrodynamic modeling, ecotoxicology, and marine ecology/biology. 

• Advising clients, their employees, and vendors regarding compliance with relevant local, state, and federal laws. Sue has drafted a Relocation Policy for a client, to be compliant with the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act. 

• Coordination with surveyors, title companies, appraisers, engineers, ROW professionals, and municipal departments and staff. 

Many of Sue’s condemnation clients are governed by private or public Boards of Directors, some of which must comply with the Texas Open Meetings Act, the Texas Open Records Act, and the Government Code. Municipal clients are typically governed by a City Council. Sue has advised clients on the legal requirements of these statutes, has drafted Board and Council materials in conformity with these laws, has participated in both open meetings and executive sessions, and has represented a Texas state agency that was a defendant in Open Records Act litigation.