The Second Appellate District recently held that public statements and other actions indicating an intent to condemn must clearly meet the criteria set out in the landmark California Supreme Court decision Klopping v. City of Whittier (1972) 8 Cal.3d 39 (Klopping) in order for inverse condemnation liability to arise. In 1972, the California Supreme Court, in Klopping, held that a valid claim for inverse condemnation could be based on governmental actions preceding an actual, or even a de facto, taking of property. The plaintiffs Ashley Joffe and Plycraft Industries owned a furniture manufacturing business at a location where the defendants City of Huntington Park and a developer expressed intent to acquire and develop a proposed retail project. Plaintiffs alleged that the City's announced intent to condemn made it impossible to enter into long-term furniture contracts and consequently forced Plycraft out of business at that location. The property was never acquired by the defendants, and the plaintiffs filed a claim for inverse condemnation under Klopping.

Plaintiffs claimed recovery for unreasonable delay because (1) the actions of the defendants, including erecting large signs announcing the project and stating that plaintiffs' property would be acquired either voluntarily or involuntarily, were sufficient to constitute an "announcement of intent to condemn," under Klopping; or (2) the City acted unreasonably; or (3) the actions of the City constituted equitable or promissory estoppel. The City successfully demurred to these allegations because they were not sufficient to satisfy the requirement of Klopping that there be an "announcement of intent to condemn." Plaintiffs appealed and the Second Appellate District affirmed.