California Eminent Domain Report : a blog following condemnation, inverse condemnation, and regulatory takings written by attorneys with Nossaman LLP.

Several years ago, the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District filed a "friendly" eminent domain action to acquire a portion of an unimproved "paper" street from the City of Lake Elsinore.  The property was to be used to construct a water pumping station to serve a nearby development, and the City had no objection.  The water district took possession, and began construction of the pumping station.  So far, this seems like a non-story, right?

Well, to the water district's surprise, a nearby property owner appeared in the action and challenged the water district's right-to-take the property; the owner claimed to have an interest in a portion of the unimproved street, and also asserted that the project limited access to his neighboring property, thereby diminishing its value.  The neighboring owner asserted that if he was unsuccessful in challenging the water district's right to take the property, he sought over $750,000 in damages. 

This was not what the water district had planned for when it filed the condemnation, which involved a minimal payment to which the City had already agreed.  And given that construction had already commenced on the project, I'm sure concerns arose about what would happen if the owner won the right to take challenge (for example, see our e-alert on the Marina Towers decision and our subsequent update).  So what happened here?

According to a Press-Enterprise article, "Judge rules in favor of Elsinore Valley water district in eminent domain case," after years of litigation, a Riverside County Superior Court judge denied the neighboring owner's right-to-take challenge, and ultimately found that the owner had no interest in the property being acquired.  Thus, despite the long and unplanned journey through the court system, the water district came out victorious.

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Perhaps the most talked-about California eminent domain case in 2009 has been the City of Stockton v. Marina Towers decision, in which the Court struck down the City's right to take property where the resolution of necessity contained no real public purpose (not surprising, since the City did not know at the time it filed the action what it would do with the property).   The case's tag-line usually played out like this:  the "project" was the condemnation itself, which does not qualify as a public purpose.   

This holding was itself somewhat interesting, as California law contains relatively few examples of a court's rejecting the government's right to take property.  What gave it real pizazz, however, was the fact that while the case was pending, the City of Stockton figured out what it wanted to do with the property -- and it proceeded to build the new, Stockton Ballpark on it. 

With no right to take, who now owned the shiny new stadium?  The court's solution was to allow the government a chance to file a new action to condemn the property now that a legitimate public use had attached.  And this week, the City Council voted to do just that, authorizing a new condemnation action to acquire the property. 

Record Staff Writer David Siders writes in a December 2 article "Stockton revisits ballpark land seizure:  Disputed property line divides left field from right" that the City agreed to commence a new action following a short public hearing Tuesday night.  The City's action was in response to a court-imposed December deadline to re-file; despite its action, the City claims to want to reach a settlement:

"This has gone on way too long, and we need to resolve this," Mayor Ann Johnston said.

That said, the parties may have vastly different views about the property's value:

During the initial eminent domain trial, a jury put the value of the Marina Towers property at just less than $2 million. Marina Towers previously said the value is closer to $6 million.

We'll let you know what ultimately happens. 

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