Posts in Inverse Condemnation & Regulatory Takings.
A Taking or Just a Fee?

We’ve been closely watching the Sheetz v. County of El Dorado case, which has worked its way up through the California trial and appellate courts all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. For a quick refresher, the case concerns whether legislatively enacted development impact fees (such as fees for building permits, etc.) are subject to the rough proportionality and nexus requirements (i.e., can a generally enacted permit fee be the subject of an unconstitutional taking). … 

Regarding Landslide Liability, the Court is Not Interested in the “Chicken or Egg” Debate

With the frequency of wildfires and flooding, landslides are becoming more frequent throughout California. When public agencies have water pipelines located in hillsides, the situation presents the classic “chicken or egg” debate: (1) did the soil movement cause the pipe to displace and leak water, thereby causing the landslide, or (2) did the pipe leak water independently, thereby causing the landslide? Answering this question addresses one of the key factors for liability for inverse condemnation and other real property causes of action: causation. … 

Public Agency’s Resolution of Necessity Not Entitled to Conclusive Presumption When Using Eminent Domain for Takeover of Public Utility

In California, when a government entity adopts a resolution of necessity to acquire property by eminent domain, that resolution typically “conclusively” establishes the requisite findings of public use and necessity. However, when the government is seeking to condemn a public utility to take over its operations, that conclusive presumption disappears. There has been an ongoing dispute about what standard of review applies in such take-over cases, and the California Court of Appeal recently provided guidance. … 

Supreme Court Rules County Can’t Keep the Change

Local governments—generally counties—impose property taxes on real estate pursuant to state law. Sometimes called ad valorem taxes, these property taxes are set based on the assessed value of the property. When a landowner does not pay their property tax, the law allows the county to foreclose on the property and sell it to another person.

The purpose of this sale is to make the county whole for the tax debt. In most states, if the property sells for more than the debt and there are excess proceeds, then the landowner receives the surplus after valid lienholders with priority are ...

California Water Views - 2023 Outlook

April 1st is an important milestone in California’s water year – marking the annual snowpack assessment and related drought determination. In the inaugural issue of Nossaman’s California Water Views – 2023 Outlook, our attorneys and policy advisors who are committed to the water sector identify the pivotal issues they’re watching now and for the year ahead.

Of particular interest to our readers, Brad Kuhn and Jillian Friess Leivas examine whether or not public agencies could face inverse condemnation liability for any flooding-related damages due to the recent storm ...

A Lesson on Water Runoff and Inverse Condemnation Liability

With all the recent storms in California, private property is bound to suffer impacts from storm water runoff, landslides, erosion and subsidence. Understanding whether the government bears responsibility for such damage is a complex and fact-specific analysis. However, a recent court of appeal decision, Shenson v. County of Contra Costa (2023 Cal. App. LEXIS 244), provides an excellent history on liability in these circumstances, and explains when natural watercourses, drainage improvements, and a public agency’s approval of development can trigger inverse ...

Join us on April 18, 2023 as we present “Right of Way 101 – An Overview of the Condemnation Process” during the International Right of Way Association (IRWA) Chapter 11 Luncheon in San Diego, CA.

Right of way and condemnation is the overarching process that encompasses everything from identifying project alternatives to ultimately acquiring specific property. During this presentation, we will provide an overview of the entire process and illustrate how all of the individual components work together. In particular, they will provide insight into how to effectively navigate ...

Join Us for Nossaman’s 2023 Eminent Domain Seminars

We are excited to be hosting our Eminent Domain seminars in person once again! Please join us in San Francisco on March 14th or Costa Mesa on March 28th. These complimentary programs will focus on current issues involving right of way, property acquisitions and eminent domain. Key topics to be covered by our panels of leading industry professionals include:

  • Inverse Condemnation and Disaster: Exploring the interplay of natural disaster and potential liability to public entities in cases such as fire and flood;
  • Environmental Considerations for Right of Way Acquisition: Identifying ...
Understanding the Tax Implications of Eminent Domain Proceeds When Property is Condemned

One of the issues that comes up frequently in eminent domain is whether the proceeds a property or business owner will receive from the government is treated as ordinary income, capital gains or is exempt from federal and/or state taxes. And when eminent domain attorneys get that question, they almost always start with the largely unhelpful response of “it depends.” But it really does depend on exactly what the money is, how the property was held, how the money will be used and whether we are talking about state or federal taxes. 

Now, I could spend a lot of time trying to walk through all ...

Buying Property Does Not Transfer a Takings Claim

Despite undertaking due diligence, a buyer of real estate may miss pre-existing property damage or a public improvement that was installed without permission or right.  Does the new buyer have a cause of action for a taking -- or inverse condemnation -- for such pre-existing conditions?  The answer is most likely no, as purchasing property does not include the transfer of a takings claim, which remains with the owner of the property absent a clear intent to assign the claim.  A recent case in Los Angeles Superior Court, Ncp Imperial v. State of California (2022 Cal. Super. LEXIS 60513), highlights ... 

City Imposed Penalty of One-Year Building Moratorium Does Not Constitute a Taking

Local government agencies sometimes enact short-term building moratoriums for certain areas to further assess changes in land use patterns or slow growth.  Those moratoriums imposed across a large area usually do not constitute a taking.  But what if a moratorium is imposed solely and specifically as to a singled-out property?  Does that moratorium give rise to a taking?  According to a recent court of appeal opinion, the answer is no, at least when that moratorium is imposed as a penalty against the property owner for violating local building codes.

Background

In Lemons v. City of Los ...

An update to our original 2011 post

As we have previously discussed, downzoning (changing the zoning designation for property from a more intensive use to a more restrictive use) can possibly rise to the level of a regulatory taking, depending on each individual situation. A recent case, FFV Coyote LLC v. City of San Jose, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 195036, analyzed this issue at the motion to dismiss stage and concluded that the plaintiffs had sufficiently plead a Fifth Amendment regulatory takings claim to survive a motion to dismiss.

Background

Plaintiffs own property in San Jose ...

An Inverse Condemnation Claim Arising From a Public Project’s General Construction Activities Requires a Unique, Peculiar, and Substantial Impact to Property

When public projects are being constructed, surrounding property owners typically experience construction impacts, such as noise, dust, fumes, vibration and road detours.  Typically, absent a physical taking of property, those construction impacts are not compensable under an inverse condemnation claim unless the property owner experiences a direct, substantial, and peculiar impact.  While this has generally been the law in California for quite some time, a recent published California Court of Appeal decision, Today’s IV, Inc. v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan ...

Summary of Major Eminent Domain Cases & Legislation: January 1, 2022 - May 31, 2022

In the most recent biannual report from the Real Estate Law Committee of the International Right of Way Association, we collaborated with Robert Thomas and Ajay Gajaria to examine numerous cases at local, state and federal levels from January to the end of May 2022 that are of interest for professionals in the right-of-way industry.

In the report we also take a brief look at pending, failed and adopted legislation, while also providing updates on federal funds that have been or have yet to be allocated through the recent Infrastructure Bill. The report also provides a breakdown of ...

Businesses Shut Down by COVID-19 Regulations May Not Bring Inverse Condemnation Claims

For the first time, a California state appellate court has decided whether businesses may bring takings claims against the government due to COVID-19 shutdown orders. In 640 Tenth, LP v. Newsom, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the San Diego Superior Court’s dismissal of an attempted class action brought by owners of restaurants, gyms and other businesses that had been closed pursuant to COVID regulations. The Court of Appeal held: “A mandated-but-temporary business closure to deal with a public health emergency” is not a taking requiring just compensation. The ...

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Post-Pakdel Ripeness: "Modest Requirement" Not Met By Incomplete Application

A new decision out of the Northern District of California applying the “final action” standards of Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco has come out – with the District Court concluding that even under Pakdel’s “relatively modest” standard, a landowner seeking to develop their property must still actually receive a final decision on the merits of their proposal before filing a takings claim in federal court.  The new case is DiVittorio v. County of Santa Clara, and the opinion by the Hon. Beth Labson Freeman helps further clarify the steps a landowner must satisfy before availing themselves of the federal court system ...

Summary of Major U.S. Eminent Domain Cases & Legislation

The International Right of Way Association (IRWA) recently released its annual report, which contains summaries of eminent domain decisions and legislation within the United States, and is an important resource and reference point for professionals in the right-of-way industry. IRWA’s Real Estate Law Committee – which is chaired by Brad Kuhn, Chair of our Eminent Domain & Valuation Group – releases the report biannually. Brad and Nossaman Eminent Domain & Valuation Group associate Jillian Friess Leivas authored the report along with Robert Thomas, the Joseph T ...

Water Utility Avoids Inverse Condemnation Liability

Generally, if utilities with the right of eminent domain cause damage to private property during the operation of their facilities, they may face inverse condemnation liability. However, where the facility in question is not operating for the “public use” and instead was installed pursuant to a private contract, inverse condemnation may be inapplicable. … 

Federal Court Decides to Take a Back Seat to State Takings Case

In Knick v. Township of Scott, 139 S.Ct. 2162 (2019), the Supreme Court reversed over three decades of precedent when it eliminated the requirement that a plaintiff exhaust state court remedies before pursuing a takings challenge in federal court.  After the Supreme Court’s decision, federal courts experienced a significant uptick in the number of federal takings lawsuits.  In Gearing v. City of Half Moon Bay, the City was able to convince the federal court to take a back seat and allow a later-filed state court eminent domain action to proceed while the federal takings lawsuit was put ...

SCOTUS’ Take on Takings

The Supreme Court of the United States rarely hears anything related to eminent domain or takings cases; the Kelo decision in 2005 was the latest “big” case for our industry, although the 2019 Knick decision also made headlines. But in the last week, SCOTUS has shown a keen interest in property rights, rendering several impactful decisions – with a focus on California in particular.

We just reported on the Cedar Point Nursery decision, where the Court found that a regulation allowing unions to access private property constituted a taking. Now, the Court has issued several more ...

Can a Public Agency Condemn Property to Prevent a Proposed Private Use?

In the City of Fresno, the Tower Theatre is a bohemian landmark, opened in 1929 as a 20th Century Fox Movie House. This year, it became public that Adventure Church was buying the theatre, which has caused tensions to rise in the community, with thousands signing a petition to save the historic theatre, weeks of demonstrations trying to prevent its use as a church, and even a pending lawsuit. The City attempted to defuse the situation by offering Adventure Church an alternative location, which also backfired. So what’s next? The City may be considering using eminent domain to prevent ...

Court Upholds Concept of Rough Proportionality Invalidating Local Measure

In 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Dolan v. City of Tigard, 512 U.S. 374, holding that in order for a dedication or exaction to pass constitutional muster, in addition to establishing an “essential nexus” between a legitimate state interest and the permit condition, the condition must be roughly proportional to the impact of the proposed development.  More than two decades later, the County of El Dorado adopted Measure E.  Under Measure E, instead of allowing a developer to pay their fair share toward traffic improvements through a traffic impact fee program, a ...

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WEBINAR: Living on the Edge: Managing Sea Level Rise in California

With the recent flurry of coastal law bills before the California State Legislature and the myriad headlines advising that we must retreat from the shore, sea level rise (SLR) and related climate change topics remain front and center in California. Join our Water Industry Group on May 27, 2021 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. PT for "Living on the Edge: Managing Sea Level Rise in California" as we sort through the pending legislation and discuss the basis for this ever-increasing concern with the encroaching ocean.

Comprised of attorneys from Nossaman’s Water, Environment & Land Use and ...

The Role of a Trial Court in Cases Featuring Concurrent Inverse Condemnation and Tort Claims

When a property owner suffers damage as a result of the actions of a public agency or public improvement, the owner typically pursues typical tort causes of action against the agency, along with a claim for inverse condemnation. While liability for the tort claims is decided by a jury, liability for inverse condemnation is determined by a judge. So what happens when both claims are pursued simultaneously -- should the judge rely on the jury’s determination of causation, or should the judge make his or her own findings? 

Recently in Amedee Geothermal Venture I v. Lassen Municipal ...

Sea Level Rise Legislation – What’s on the Horizon?

Sea level rise is a critical issue facing public agencies and property owners throughout the United States. In California alone, this phenomenon could impact thousands of residences and businesses, dozens of wastewater treatment plants and power plants and hundreds of miles of highways, roads and railways. Last year, the California Legislature introduced a number of bills that proposed to address, or anticipate, or mitigate the impacts of sea level rise in California. Almost all of those bills, however, failed to make their way to the Governor’s desk. This year, the California ...

“Futility Exception” Satisfies the Ripeness Requirement for Inverse Condemnation Claims

In order for a property owner to successfully pursue a regulatory takings claim for inverse condemnation, the owner is typically required to pursue multiple different development options, and face multiple permit denials, before a claim will be ripe. However, a recent California Court of Appeal opinion, Felkay v. City of Santa Barbara, 2021 Cal.App. LEXIS 225, held that “multiple applications are not required where the permit denial makes clear that no development of the property would be allowed under any circumstance.”

Background

In this case, a property owner applied to ...

Tune in to Nossaman’s Recent Land Use Podcasts

Providing listeners a convenient and concise medium to access timely reports on important land use topics, Nossaman’s recent podcast offerings make a great addition to your professional playlist.

First, check out Nossaman’s own Digging Into Land Use Law podcast, which covers the development of all things in, on or above the ground. Recently, I recorded the episode “Valuation and Damages: Assessing COVID-19’s Economic Impact.” Changes in how businesses operate, restrictions on property use and reduced revenues brought on by mandated closures due to COVID-19 have had ...

Watch On Demand! Eminent Domain in 2020: A Year in Review

While nobody could have anticipated the challenges of 2020, the right-of-way industry worked through difficult issues to move critical infrastructure projects forward. On February 11, 2021, our Eminent Domain & Valuation Group presented “Eminent Domain in 2020: A Year in Review,” during which we discussed decisions in key cases and trends from California and around the country that will continue to impact the right-of-way industry going forward. If you were not able to attend the live session, we invite you to watch the on-demand presentation at your convenience. 

Inverse Condemnation Claim Barred for Late Response to Taking of Leased Property, Despite the Claimant Not Receiving Formal Notice of the Underlying Eminent Domain Case

Typically, when a public agency acquires property by eminent domain, it names all potentially interested parties in the condemnation action. This includes the property owner, any easement holders, lien holders and usually businesses as well. If the agency does not name all interested parties, anyone with an interest may still appear in the action. Or if the party does not appear, it could potentially file a subsequent inverse condemnation action for the taking of its property interest (which could expose the agency to attorneys’ fees -- hence the importance of naming all ...

County's Forever Green Condition on Private Development Not a Taking

While there is a healthy debate over just how much the sea level will rise over the next 50 years, there is at least a general consensus that the sea level will rise.  What this means for those on the coast depends on the jurisdiction.  Some jurisdictions will attempt to armor the coast, protecting the structures that exist for as long as they can.  Others will pursue a policy of managed retreat, allowing the ocean to creep inward unabated.  In California, the Coastal Commission has expressed a preference for managed retreat.  However, because of the negative connotations associated with that ...

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COVID-19, Outdoor Dining, Street Closures and Takings?

As the world continues to grapple with the devastating impacts from COVID-19, local government agencies are finding ways to help local businesses survive while still complying with the complex maze of regulatory requirements. As just one example, many cities and counties are permitting restaurants and other businesses to offer outdoor dining and other services, including granting permits to operate on the public sidewalk or in streets. However, in some cases, while those outdoor operations may benefit some businesses, other businesses are complaining about the resulting ...

Who Has The Right To Develop A Pier? 

If you know someone with property that borders, is adjacent to, or abuts a natural lake, pond, bay, sea, or ocean, they may have littoral property rights. What that means is they may have the right to build a pier out to the line of navigability, a right to navigation, a right to accretion, and a right of access. I say “may” because these rights can be qualified rights, or simply nonexistent. Furthermore, determining whether such rights exist and, if you are lucky enough to have them, their extent can be a complicated endeavor. Then again, sometimes the analysis can be quite simple, such ...

There Can Be No Taking for Impairment of Access If the Property Does Not Abut a Public Road

We routinely get calls from owners facing impacts to their property or business as a result of construction of a public project or changes in adjacent public streets. For example, the city or county may close a road, create a cul-de-sac, turn a two-way street into a one-way street, close a driveway, relocate an off-ramp, or change a road’s elevation. When there is no physical taking of property, do these public improvements trigger a taking entitling an owner to compensation? It is a tricky, heavily fact-intensive inquiry, but generally, the analysis centers around whether the ...

COVID-19 Update: Courts Rule Limitations on Evictions Not a Taking

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic a number of local jurisdictions throughout the country adopted ordinances freezing rents and prohibiting or limiting evictions. Not surprisingly, some landlords were not particularly pleased with these enactments, as they saw their properties occupied without the associated rental stream and still all the related carrying costs. In response, lawsuits were filed in federal and state court alleging that these enactments violated the federal and state constitution, including the takings clause. However, so far these arguments don’t ...

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California Supreme Court Determines That Legal Issues Motions Cannot Be Made in Inverse Condemnation Actions

It is Christmas in July for eminent domain practitioners! We have a California Supreme Court opinion on a condemnation case, which is rare. The case, Weiss v. People ex rel. Department of Transportation (2020 Cal. LEXIS 4357), is an inverse condemnation action where the main question is this: Can you make a Code of Civil Procedure Section 1260.040 motion, also known as a Legal Issues Motion, in an inverse condemnation action? According to the Supreme Court, the answer is no, these motions are meant to address valuation issues in eminent domain actions -- not determine liability in an ...

Update on COVID-19 Takings Cases

As you may recall, it wasn’t too long after Governor Newsom issued his executive order mandating the closure of certain businesses in California that the first takings lawsuit was filed. (See our coverage of Gondola Adventures, Inc. v. Gavin Newsom, U.S.D.C. Case No. 2:20-cv-03789 here.) That lawsuit alleged that the response by the state and county agencies to the COVID-19 situation violated the state and federal constitutions, and resulted in a partial or complete taking in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Notably, the case was voluntarily dismissed ...

Inverse Condemnation Exposure and Management for the Energy Industry

Our presentation on "Inverse Condemnation Exposure and Management for the Energy Industry" will be available for viewing during the 2020 American Association of Professional Landmen's (AAPL) Annual Meeting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event will be held virtually and presentations will be prerecorded and available to view on demand after the scheduled live run time on June 18th. Registration is required, but access will be available as a complimentary benefit for all AAPL members.

The 2020 event still promises to be a professional development and land conference ...

Can’t Sue Here – Federal Court Closed to Takings Claim

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Knick v. Township of Scott (2019) 139 S.Ct. 2162 eliminated the requirement for a plaintiff to exhaust state court remedies before pursuing a takings challenge in federal court, there has been a significant uptick in federal lawsuits alleging a Fifth Amendment takings claim. For example, as we recently reported, a federal lawsuit was filed earlier this month alleging that the response by California agencies to the COVID-19 situation violated the state and federal Constitutions, and resulted in a partial or complete taking in violation ...

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COVID-19 Takings Lawsuit Filed in California

As first reported by our good friends at inversecondemnation.com, a lawsuit has been filed in California alleging that the response by state and county agencies to the COVID-19 situation violates the state and federal Constitutions, and results in a partial or complete taking in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The named defendants include Governor Newsom, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the State Public Health Officer, county Public Health Officers, and county representatives throughout Southern California. The complaint alleges ...

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Amendments to Proposed Legislation Would Change Municipalization / Eminent Domain Takeovers of Electric, Gas and Water Utilities

We’ve previously reported on Senate Bill 917, which was introduced on February 3, 2020, by Senator Wiener (D-San Francisco) to establish a process for a potential government takeover of investor-owned electrical, gas and water corporations.  While the stated intention of the bill was to facilitate an eminent domain acquisition of PG&E by the state government, its wording goes much further.  Additionally, on April 3, a series of amendments were introduced that would potentially significantly change the burden of proof on a municipalization takeover effort. 

Specifically, the ...

Right of Way Professionals Opine on COVID-19 Impacts to the Profession

On April 1, Nossaman’s Eminent Domain Group hosted a webinar to discuss the impacts COVID-19 is having on the Right of Way industry.  First, I’d like to thank the people who attended, many of whom added thoughtful questions to the discussion.  It’s clear a lot of people are giving these issues a lot of thought.  Second, obviously things continue to evolve at a breathtaking pace, and even by the time this post goes from being drafted to appearing on the blog, things are likely to change. 

Note that this post is not meant to recap the things we discussed at the webinar.  If you weren’t able to join us and want to review what we covered, feel free to download the COVID-19 PowerPoint we used, or watch the entire recorded webinar.  No, the purpose of this post is to provide some insights as to what other right of way professionals are thinking about a few of these issues.  During the webinar, we asked several poll questions, and since the Nossaman team found the results interesting, I’m hoping some of you will as well ...

Does the Coronavirus Shutdown Trigger a Regulatory Taking?

With the recent government mandates surrounding COVID-19, many businesses are completely shut down and are legally unable to open their doors to the public.  Are those businesses -- movie theaters, gyms, retail stores, etc. -- entitled to compensation for a regulatory taking?  Similarly, landlords are experiencing massive losses as those tenants are unable to make rental payments; are those losses compensable?  Should governments worry about liability when issuing orders requiring the closure of businesses? 

While compensation arguably should be paid from a decency and “good ...

“Public Improvement” Narrowly Defined to Limit Inverse Condemnation Liability

Since the California Supreme Court’s 2019 Oroville decision, which narrowed inverse condemnation liability for public agencies, several court decisions have followed suit.  This week, the California Court of Appeal issued a published decision in Ruiz v. County of San Diego (2020 Cal. App. LEXIS 282), which further clarified and limited what constitutes a “public improvement” for purposes of inverse liability ...

Governor’s Use of Emergency Power to Commandeer Property Requires Payment of “Reasonable Value”

As COVID-19 spreads throughout the globe and the United States, our national, state and local governments are taking wide-reaching but necessary actions to respond to this novel coronavirus.

On March 4, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a State of Emergency and on March 12 issued Executive Order N-25-20, which, in part, allows the California Health and Human Services Agency and the Offices of Emergency Services to enter into contracts or, if agreements cannot be reached, “commandeer” property, such as hotels, medical facilities and other facilities that are needed “for ...

While inverse condemnation liability in California originates from the California Constitution, determining when it applies -- and under what circumstances -- is based on a lengthy morass of case law that has been described by one court as “seemingly inconsistent and irreconcilable.”  If you’re interested in learning more about the subject ...

Is California Coming for Your Beach House?

Yes, but the sea might beat them to it. In 2015, the California Coastal Commission adopted the Sea Level Rise Policy Guidance. This Guidance document discusses a number of potential measures for responding to sea level rise, including "managed retreat." As explained in the Guidance document, "[r]etreat strategies are those strategies that relocate or remove existing development out of hazard areas and limit the construction of new development in vulnerable areas." Examples of retreat strategies include the acquisition and buy-out of "threatened" properties. While many ...

Governor’s 2020 Budget Signals State’s Willingness to Takeover PG&E

Welcome to 2020! It is a new year and with every new year, comes a lot of new: new goals, new diet, new workout routines that leave every part of you sore...  In the professional setting, a new year brings a lot of “chores,” like closing out the financials for the previous year, perhaps completing year-end reviews, and on and on, and you are left asking, “We do this every year…??”  One of those chores is almost sure to be budgeting, which is universally considered to be unpleasant. Well, imagine having to kick off the year by preparing a budget for the entire state of California, the 5th largest economy in the world

Luckily, that chore was left to Governor Newsom and last week, he released his 2020 budget proposal. The proposed $222 billion dollar state budget ...

Last year, the United States Supreme Court made headlines (at least in our eminent domain world) by issuing a ruling in Knick v. Township of Scott that property owners can bypass the state courts and directly file a Fifth Amendment takings claim in federal court (you can find our write-up on Knick here).  This was a stark shift from prior law, which held that a property owner had to first finalize their pursuit of compensation through any applicable state procedures.  We are still feeling the effects from the Supreme Court's holding, but one question that has been raised is how does the ...

Federal Bankruptcy Court Denies PG&E’s Attempt to Set Aside Inverse Condemnation Liability

On November 27, 2019, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali issued a Memorandum Decision on Inverse Condemnation (“Memorandum Decision”) in PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas & Electric’s (together, “PG&E”) Chapter 11 Bankruptcy proceeding in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California (Case No. 19-30088).  PG&E challenged the application of the doctrine of inverse condemnation in connection with the 2015, 2017, and 2018 California wildfires.  In the Memorandum Decision, Judge Montali ruled against PG&E and instead concluded that the doctrine ...

As we have written about in past posts, the issue of inverse condemnation remains on the forefront in the state given the continuing, severe wildfire risks and other climate change impacts.  Brad Kuhn was recently quoted in the Wall Street Journal in “PG&E Isn’t Alone in Facing Liability Risk Over California Fires,” addressing liability associated with inverse condemnation.  Willis Hon also commented on the current legislative situation in an E&E News EnergyWire article:  “Legal 'whipsaw' threatens PG&E's future.”  If you’re interested in potential legislative ...

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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