California Eminent Domain Report

Before you get your hopes up, this is not a reference to "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul, and I will not be singing.  Rather, I am referring to the Montana Legislature's recent decision to repeal a two-year-old law that gave private power-line developers the authority to condemn private property.  The 2011 law was passed in order to override a state court decision prohibiting the use of eminent domain for private power-line development.  As reported in the Independent Record, supporters of the repeal effort believe "that the law gave unprecedented power to private companies to run ...

Earlier this week, in an unpublished decision (pdf), the Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of compensation for construction that altered a point of access to an existing business.  (Wardany v. City of San Jacinto (9th Cir. 2013) 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 3463.) 

For those readers who never forget a post, you probably recall that we discussed the district court's decision a couple of years ago.  (See Brad Kuhn's June 1, 2011 Blog Post.)  For the rest of us mortals, here is a quick summary.   The property owner operated a "One Stop Market" that vehicle traffic could access ...

In Lost Tree Village Corporation v. United States, the Federal Circuit addressed this question head on, concluding, to the surprise of no one, that the answer will largely depend upon the unique facts in each case. 

The question arose because the Army Corps of Engineers denied Lost Tree Village Corporation (Lost Tree), a commercial and real estate developer, a permit to fill wetlands on a 4.99 acre plat.  The 4.99 acre plat (Plat 57), along with one other plat (Plat 55) and some scattered wetlands, were holdovers from various properties totaling ...

As recently reported in the San Clemente Times, Caltrans is scheduled to begin construction on the Interstate 5/Ortega Highway Interchange project in mid-February.  (See Brian Park's article in the San Clemente Times, Jan. 10, 2013.)   The project, which will reconfigure the Ortega Highway bridge and a number of on-ramps and off-ramps in order to relieve congestion, has had substantial impacts on property owners and businesses.  According to the article, Caltrans anticipates having a complete project schedule by the end of the month.     

After passing on a number of Fifth Amendment issues in recent history, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear three cases this term in which the takings clause plays a prominent role.  And today, the Court addressed the first of these three cases, holding that a temporary-flooding can result in a taking requiring just compensation under the Fifth Amendment.  

In Arkansas Game and Fish Commission v. United States, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission argued that a temporary but reoccurring flooding of its property resulted in a taking requiring just compensation.  The ...

When I was a child, a long long time ago, I learned the importance of paying attention to detail.  While I will not bore you with the details of my adolescence and the shenanigans that forced my parents to drive home this message, I will tell you that I certainly learned to always cross my T's and dot my I's.  Late last week, the California Court of Appeal issued an unpublished decision in Compton Unified School District v. Hassan, Case No. B233412, prohibiting an after-the-fact challenge to a condemnation order issued almost two years prior, largely on the ...

Inverse condemnation claims can be tricky, particularly in the regulatory context.  You don't want to file your claim too soon, as that will likely result in your claim being booted out of court on ripeness grounds.  But you also don't want to file your claim too late, as that can result in your claim being barred by the applicable statute of limitations.  It is a delicate balance, and one that can often defy logic.  (For a real world example of this Catch 22, see Brad Kuhn's Blog Post.)  Last week, in Rivera v. County of Solano, Case No. A133616, the California Court of Appeal ...

On August 30, 2012, the Second Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal held that a privately owned utility could be subject to strict liability for inverse condemnation, thereby concurring with a similar holding previously reached out of the Fourth Appellate District.

A typical inverse condemnation action is initiated when a property owner files a complaint essentially asserting that a government agency is trying to take its property without filing a formal eminent domain action.  Typical inverse condemnation claims involve ...

Yes!  And two separate groups recently learned this fact the hard way.  On April 17, the Eastern District of California issued two separate decisions dismissing two separate inverse condemnation claims with prejudice because the plaintiffs did not have an independent property interest in the subject property.  In Abarca v. Merck & Co. (E.D. Cal. Apr. 17, 2012) Case No. 1:07-cv-0388, a group of minor plaintiffs and a group of non-owner landscape plaintiffs filed an action against the County of Merced, the Merced Irrigation District, and Merced Drainage District ...

Last year I saw Win Win, a movie starring Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan and Jeffrey Tambor.  The movie, besides receiving critical acclaim, had two hooks for me.  One, the protagonist in the movie is an attorney.  I am a sucker for almost any lawyer movie.  (I still say My Cousin Vinny is one of the best 50 movies of the past 50 years.)  And two, the movie included wrestling.  No, not the Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage stuff.  I mean the real folkstyle wrestling that occurs every 4 years at the Olympics and at the collegiate level. 

My dad was a college wrestler, which is probably why ...

California provides a special procedural remedy whenever a lawsuit implicates a defendant's First Amendment right to petition or free speech.  The procedure is commonly referred to as the "anti-SLAPP."  (SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.)  Under this procedure, the trial court evaluates the merits of the lawsuit using a summary judgment like process, often at an early stage of the litigation.  In a recent unpublished decision, the California Court  of Appeal affirmed the propriety of applying this procedure when a plaintiff is ...

Reflecting on the Golden Age of Saturday Night Live, icons such as Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Steve Martin, Jane Curtin, and Dan Aykroyd jump to mind.  As such, it should come as no surprise that one of my favorite recurring characters has always been Emily Litella.  An old lady who would spend a minute or so railing against some ridiculous topic premised on a mistaken understanding of some headline or story, only to conclude with a sweet "never mind" after the error was pointed out to her.  In a recent per curiam decision by the United States Court of ...

On January 19, 2012, the California Court of Appeal issued an unpublished decision addressing this very question.  Specifically, in Flying J, Inc. v. Department of Transportation, Case No. F060545, the Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff's claim for lost profits, finding that plaintiff's evidence was not sufficiently comparable in character and its calculations relied on too much conjecture about future events.      

Plaintiff Flying J operates truck stops.  In 1997, it purchased an 18.8 acre parcel adjacent to State Routes 14 and 58 in the Mojave ...

As recently reported by Jason Plautz at E&E in his article "Bipartisan lawmakers seek $13.8B for infrastructure improvements," members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are discussing a potential bipartisan bill that would provide approximately $13.8 billion in funding for wastewater infrastructure projects, and several billion in alternative financing for clean water infrastructure projects. 

According to the draft bill summary, the bill would "create thousands of new, domestic jobs in the construction and wastewater-support sectors through ...

You may recall that last year in Ridgewater Associates LLC v. Dublin San Ramon Services District, the California Court of Appeal held that a subsequent purchaser cannot recover for inverse condemnation where (1) it knowingly purchases property impacted by a government taking, and (2) the purchase price reflects the property's condition in light of the government impacts.  See Buyer Beware: Improper Sale Documentation Results in Waiver of Inverse Condemnation Claim by Brad Kuhn and Rick Rayl.  While the decision was originally published at 184 Cal.App.4th 629, the ...

On July 29, 2011, the California Court of Appeal issued an unpublished decision confirming that when condemned property is subject to a roadway easement, and the property owner fails to demonstrate that there is "something special attaching to it," regardless of how the property is ordinarily bought or sold, the landowner is only entitled to nominal value.

In People ex rel. Department of Transportation v. Bakker, No. F060030, the California Department of Transportation (Department) condemned 18.13 acres of land belonging to the Bakkers, 4.4 acres of which were subject to a ...

As originally reported by Robert Thomas at inversecondemnation.com, a petition for certiorari was filed asking the U.S. Supreme Court to address "[w]hat category of takings are subject to heightened judicial scrutiny, and when is the risk of undetected favoritism so acute that an exercise of eminent domain can be presumed invalid?"  While Justice Kennedy brought this issue to the national stage when he raised the possibility of such conduct in a recent concurrence, as of today, and likely tomorrow, the question remains unanswered. 

In Kelo v. City of New ...