Originally Published in The Real Estate Finance Journal, December 17, 2012.

In eminent domain proceedings, property owners are granted the right to have a jury determine just compensation. But the presentation of valuation evidence is not a freeforall; the legislature has declared that certain transactions are simply too doubtful or subject to abuse to aid the jury in rendering its verdict on fair market value. The exceptions to admissibility are codied in Evidence Code Section 822, and a recently published California Court of Appeal decision provides an example of just how those limitations can play out in establishing value.

In City of Corona v. Liston Brick Company of Corona,1 the city condemned several easement interests from an 11 acre property. In valuing the part taken, the owner sought to rely on...