Posts from August 2012
Posted in Projects

Below are some updates on California projects have turned to eminent domain to complete right-of-way acquisition.  They involve issues that are somewhat typical in condemnation proceedings: disputes over severance damages and a property's highest and best use.  

  • Riverside County Flood Control Project:  According to an article in the North County Times, LAKE ELSINORE: Board authorizes condemnation for flood channel, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors has approved the use of eminent domain to acquire a 5-acre easement across a 33-acre property for the Arroyo Del Toro flood ...
Posted in Projects

The FHWA recently published a series of useful short videos on its website.  For those of you working on transportation projects involving federal aid, check them out below:

  • Right-of-Way Coordination and Certification Requirements.  Before an agency gets to construct its project, it needs to coordinate and certify the right-of-way.  This video provides an overview of the initial coordination process when federal funds are involved, including what must be completed before putting a project out to bid, and the need to obtain physical possession of the impacted properties.
Posted in Court Decisions

I know our blog is called the California Eminent Domain Report -- implying we only cover eminent domain-related issues, but in actuality we cover anything valuation-related.  After all, our group of attorneys is known as the Eminent Domain & Valuation Practice Group.  With that said, an interesting value dispute has popped up, making its way to the California Supreme Court.  This one deals with whether intangible assets should be included in one's property tax assessments, and we're looking forward to the Court's decision.

The case, Elk Hills Power v. California ...

Posted in Court Decisions

Earlier this year in City of Livermore v. Baca, the California Court of Appeal held that as long as an expert can identify damages arising from a taking or public project, those damages likely will not qualify as speculative, and they can be presented to a jury in an eminent domain action.   Did this broad holding turn upside down traditional rules of admissibility and recovery of damages, or did it just affirm existing law?  And how will courts apply Baca in the future?  Two recently issued unpublished appellate decisions may help guide the way.

The Superior Coatings Decision

Last ...

Posted in Projects

If you're an infrastructure and right of way junkie like me, you'll be interested in a few of the updates below.  If you're not a transportation nut (and understandably so), it still doesn't hurt to get caught up on the happenings in California and at the federal level.  So read on.

MAP-21:  This Summer, Congress passed the "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act."  If you ever hear the acronym MAP-21 thrown around, this Act is what's being referred to.  What does it do and why do you care?  In its simplest terms, the Act reauthorizes transportation funding through the end of 2014.  But it is ...

Posted in Court Decisions

In my recent post on City of Corona v. Liston Brick Company of Corona, 2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 873, I took a few minutes to discuss the conflict under California law concerning what happens when one side presents a valuation opinion and the other does not.  As I explained there, while I can see a basis for a rule that the jury must accept a single opinion of value OR a rule where the jury remains free to reach its own conclusion even if only one opinion is presented, I have a real problem with the current state of the law -- where sometimes the jury gets to decide and sometimes the judge directs a ...

Posted in Court Decisions

Eminent domain cases typically revolve around one issue in dispute:  the property's (or business') fair market value.  And when appraisers seek to reach their opinions of value, they typically rely on a standard body of data:  comparable sales; income and expense figures; and reproduction costs. 

But sometimes the evidence does not fit into one of these neat boxes, either because there is a lack of "classic" evidence or because one party is seeking to adduce evidence of value in a more creative way. 

A recent published decision, City of Corona v. Liston Brick Company of Corona, 2012 Cal. App ...

Posted in Projects

Two recent news articles caught my eye about a project taking place in San Diego County.  A North County Times article, ESCONDIDO: Eminent domain hearing set for Bear Valley properties, reports that the San Diego County Board of Supervisors was set to vote this week on potentially using eminent domain to acquire necessary properties for the expansion of Bear Valley Parkway.  While the project would widen the busy roadway from two to four lanes, add a center median and bicycle lanes, it would also necessitate the demolition of 18 homes and the taking of 32 slices of property -- mostly ...

This underwater mortgage / eminent domain issue does not appear to be going away any time soon.  Along with eminent domain attorneys Robert Thomas from Hawaii, Casey Pipes from Alabama, and Tom Olsen from New Jersey, I spoke last Friday at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago -- one of the cities apparently considering the plan.  The presentation itself did not focus on the underwater mortgage plan, but many of the questions at the end did.  Indeed, the issue generated more buzz in the room, by far, than any other.

This week, the news is that the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA") has ...

Over the past few days, I've had several conversations and have received a number of emails concerning the underwater mortgage series I posted recently.

Rick Friess, one of my former colleagues, commented on the series and provided two additional sources of concern.  Because I suspect many people missed his comment, I'm copying it here:

I agree with your analysis, and I see at least two other reasons this plan will not work. First, many, if not most, of the loans are likely refiances, not purchase-money loans, so the lenders will have recourse against the borrower. Thus, if the lender is ...

California Eminent Domain Report is a one-stop resource for everything new and noteworthy in eminent domain. We cover all aspects of eminent domain, including condemnation, inverse condemnation and regulatory takings. We also keep track of current cases, project announcements, budget issues, legislative reform efforts and report on all major eminent domain conferences and seminars in the Western United States.

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