Given the maze of procedural and substantive hurdles involved, property owners rarely succeed with regulatory takings claims. Even when owners do win, it is yet more uncommon for courts to award damages, instead allowing the...more
The California Transportation Commission (CTC) recently announced the award of $878 million to fund 114 transportation projects. ...more
Light rail and rapid transit appear to be the hot ticket in California. Most of our right-of-way acquisition and eminent domain work over the last few years has centered on such projects. One interesting dispute that...more
California's loss of business goodwill statute, Code of Civil Procedure section 1263.510, provides that before a business can submit its goodwill claim to a jury in an eminent domain case, the business must first demonstrate...more
Acquiring property for public projects typically does not occur until after the project has received environmental approval. While this is the generally accepted rule – and it makes sense for a number of reasons – must a...more
According to an article in the Daily Republic, Jury: County owes $1.24M in eminent domain dispute, Solano County and a local land owner recently completed an eminent domain trial, and the jury sided with the owner. The case,...more
According to an article in the Whittier Daily News, La Mirada agrees to pay $1.8 million to settle eminent domain case for new railroad underpass, the City of La Mirada has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle the last...more
For those of you who have followed Nossaman's blog since the very early days, you'll recall our coverage of a significant regulatory takings case, Monks v. City of Rancho Palos Verdes. The 2008 California decision received...more
Over the past several months, we've been following some of the recent takings cases that have made their way up to the United States Supreme Court. So where do things currently stand?...more
According to an article in the Press Democrat, Rohnert Park OKs eminent domain at site of future hotel, restaurant, the Rohnert Park City Council recently adopted a resolution of necessity authorizing the use of eminent...more
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...more
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the owner of Silveira Ranch are involved in an interesting valuation dispute stemming from Caltrans' acquisition of part of the ranchland needed for Highway 101...more
California continues to move forward with more infrastructure improvement projects. According to an article in the Daily Republic, Agency starts eminent domain proceedings for I-80/680 project, the Solano Transportation...more
Originally Published in Daily Journal, January 15, 2013.
As we look back on 2012, federal funds continued to make their way to local projects and shovels continued to break ground for infrastructure projects. This led to...more
1/15/2013
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Attorney's Fees ,
Condemnation ,
DOT v Dry Canyon ,
Eminent Domain ,
Evidence ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Flooding ,
Jury Questions ,
Just Compensation ,
Loss of Goodwill ,
Mortgages ,
SCOTUS ,
Takings Clause ,
Underwater Homeowners ,
Valuation Experts
As we mentioned in our recent 2012 Eminent Domain Year in Review, we've seen a boom of infrastructure projects in California -- a trend we expect to continue into the near future. So what exactly are we talking about? ...more
Originally Published in Daily Journal, January 4, 2013
It has been quite a busy year for takings cases, and the state Court of Appeal provided one last published eminent domain opinion just before 2012 came to a close....more
It has been quite a busy year for takings cases. While our readers can soon expect our annual "Year in Review E-Alert," the California Court of Appeal decided to grace us with one more published eminent domain opinion just...more
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...more
One of the prerequisites to instituting an eminent domain action is the governing agency's adoption of a resolution of necessity to acquire the necessary property. At the time of adopting the resolution, the agency cannot be...more
California is one of only a few states in which a business may recover for loss of goodwill when property is taken by eminent domain, but even here there are limitations on a business' right to recover for such damages. ...more
Those don't quite sound like the lyrics to the early-90's popular Ace of Base hit, "The Sign." But they likely describe the situation of many travelers on the I-10 freeway in Los Angeles thanks to a recent California Court...more
While most lawsuits typically start with the filing of a complaint, eminent domain cases really start one key step earlier, with the condemning agency’s adoption of a Resolution of Necessity. The Resolution establishes (i)...more
A few weeks ago, the California Court of Appeal issued an interesting unpublished decision detailing a long, drawn-out eminent domain battle in Riverside County. I haven't blogged about it yet because, well to be honest, it...more
On occasion, public agencies decide to abandon or partially abandon an eminent domain proceeding. The most typical reason is due to a revision in project design, making the property no longer necessary for the proposed...more
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...more