My practice is driven by what clients need on any given day. Many of them are growing businesses that don’t have the internal resources necessary to solve complex legal problems that stand in the way of reaching their goals. They lean on me as an essential member of their team who can give each problem the immediate, hands-on attention it deserves and guide them to the right solution, whether it involves aggressive litigation or negotiating a fair compromise.
Tonya (Toni) Meier focuses her practice on resolving commercial disputes and challenges for real estate developers, landowners and a variety of other businesses, particularly in the areas of environmental law, land use, contract and employment disputes, fraud and DTPA violations. She spends the majority of her time handling challenging litigation before state and federal courts, government agencies and municipalities throughout Texas. Toni is also well-equipped to protect clients’ interests in federal environmental proceedings in jurisdictions across the country.
Toni has guided developers and landowners to successful outcomes in numerous environmental investigations, enforcement actions and litigation matters involving soil, groundwater and air contamination. Escalation of these disputes is often unavoidable, but Toni always searches for practical ways to keep clients’ penalty liabilities in check and out of the courtroom. Her goal is to bring everyone to the table – former landowners, adjacent owners, the EPA regulators, state regulators and expert consultants – so they can fully assess the causes and extent of the contamination and identify a remediation solution that’s reasonable for everyone involved.
Clients also rely on Toni to solve complicated land use problems, including condemnation and zoning issues that may cause costly delays – or even worse – prevent a project from moving forward at all. Unlike traditional litigation that ends in a settlement on the courthouse steps or a tough battle at trial, resolving land use disputes often allows Toni to create truly tangible results that are not only beneficial to her clients, but also fair to the municipalities and adjacent property owners that are impacted by the development.
Representative Experience Litigation
- Representation of Municipal Utility Districts and Public Entities in condemnation matters
- Representation of companies in claims involving CERCLA, RECRA, and Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act
- Soil, groundwater and air contamination cases
- Environmental Citizens’ Lawsuits
- Companies and individuals in toxic torts including pesticide, chemical, asbestos, silica sand, benzene, and “black mold” exposure
- Pollution Lawsuits
- Oilfield Contamination Lawsuits
- Defending companies and individuals in EPA, TCEQ, and state agency enforcement matters
- Successfully litigated complex breach of contract, fraud, and misrepresentation claims
- Defense of corporations in multi-party toxic tort and product liability matters
- Defense of landowners in condemnation matters
- Defense of retailers in product liability matters
- Defense of distributors in product liability matters
- Obtained summary judgment rulings for corporate and individual clients for breach of contract, fraud and misrepresentation claims
- First and second chair trial experience in State and Federal Court
- Representation of individual physician, medical institutions and health maintenance organizations in contract disputes, fraud, misrepresentation and DTPA claims
- Represented employers before the EEOC, TCHR, DOL and NLRB
Transactional
- Representation of purchaser in $17 million purchase of three industrial sites in three different states totaling ~130 acres of land and ~350,000 sq. ft. of building improvements, including complicated environmental and shared use issues
- Representation of the founders of Chem32 in a $44 million sale of their membership interests to a subsidiary of PQ Group Holdings Inc. (NYSE: PQG). Click here for a press release.
Honors
- Selected as a Best Lawyer in Dallas by D Magazine (2017, 2020 – 2021)
- Named a "Super Lawyer" by Texas Super Lawyers (a Thompson Reuters company) as published in Texas Monthly (2014 – 2022)
Organizational Involvement Professional Activities, Memberships & Affiliations
- The American Bar Association
- Dallas Bar Association
- Served as an editor of the Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems Journal (1994 – 1996)
- Participated in the International Law Symposium in Bordeaux, France (1994)
Community Activities, Memberships & Affiliations
- Stewpot Alliance
- Board member, 2011 – 2018
- Chairperson, The Stewpot Alliance Annual Luncheon, 2012
- Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation Board Member, 2018 – present
- Leadership Dallas Class Graduate, 2011
- One of 11 women selected to participate in documentary in India in 2009 entitled Friendly Captivity
When I Feel Most At Home
- Active yoga practitioner for 14 years
- Painting – watercolor and pastels
- Avidly reading – mainly contemporary fiction; Anne Tyler is one of my favorite authors
- Traveling – I have visited 49 states and 14 countries
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