Eminent Domain Report

In an October 23 Los Angeles Times article, reporter Ronald D. White describes a lawsuit filed by the NRDC against a proposed project to replace the aging, seismically unsafe Schuyler Heim Bridge with a new modern bridge that will also bypass three existing stoplights and five existing railroad crossings. 

This is not the first project designed to ease traffic congestion and to facilitate the movement of goods in and around the Port of Los Angeles, and while the lawsuit alleges potential environmental problems with the project, it ignores the vast benefits projects like these ...

According to Visalia Times Delta reporter Valerie Gibbons, in her October 20 article "Tulare County now wants 11 more parcels on Road 80," Tulare County is moving forward with condemnation plans for 11 properties in order to widen Road 80:

The county has been trying to acquire properties — many of which are in 40- to-60-foot-wide strips, and about a mile in length — since the beginning of 2008. Eighty-five other property owners along the route have reached sale-price settlements.

The widening project, designed to ease congestion between Dinuba and Visalia, has been planned ...

This week, the City Council for Long Beach approved using its power of eminent domain to acquire a nearly 10,000-square-foot strip of land north of Second Street in order to widen Pacific Coast Highway for a right-turn lane.  The property is behind City National Bank and in front of Hof's Hut restaurant.

Paul Eakins reports in his Long Beach Press Telegram article "Council OKs eminent domain for PCH turn lane" that the City offered $655,000 to the property owner, which offer had been rejected.

Yesterday's IRWA Chapter 1 seminar in Los Angeles was a great success, with an outstanding panel of speakers.  The morning started with an informative presentation by Dave Guder of Southern California Edison about the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project and renewable energy sources in general. 

The liveliest discussion, however, centered around a narrow issue that triggered some surprisingly animated responses.  The issue involved a condemning agency's use of one appraiser for the initial eminent domain offer and deposit of probable compensation, and another appraiser ...

Typically, regulatory takings litigation generates a lot of noise and gnashing of teeth but, at the end of the day, rarely are government agencies bitten with an order that they pay compensation. However, a new opinion from the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Guggenheim v. City of Goleta (Sept. 28, 2009, Case No. 06-56306), demonstrates that regulatory takings litigation can have teeth. In Guggenheim, the 9th Circuit holds that the city of Goleta's rent control ordinance on mobile home parks went too far and that the city will have to pay the park's owners just compensation ...

On October 20, Chapter 1 of the International Right-of-Way Association is holding its Fall Seminar.  The event is being chaired by one of my partners, David Graeler, and it has a good line-up of speakers. 

One of the more interesting discussions may be the 10:50 session looking at eminent domain from both an agency and a landowner perspective.  The speakers for that session are Michael Thornton, from my firm's San Francisco office, and Gary Kovacic, from Sullivan, Workman & Dee in Los Angeles ...

There was an interesting discussion at the IRWA Chapter 57 seminar last Friday, and it’s one that I have seen play out many times in many contexts, so I thought it was worth a short discussion here. The issue was when the illegal gift of public funds doctrine comes into play in the context of an eminent domain case (the text appears in Article XVI, section 6 of the California Constitution). The concept is simple: The government cannot give away public funds to a private person or company. The eminent domain scenario is all too frequent: A proposed settlement is for more than the property’s ...

In June 2005, the United States Supreme Court issued its now infamous decision in Kelo v. City of New London.  That decision made eminent domain and condemnation household terms (imagine my shock at hearing my previously unknown, niche area of practice discussed in normal, day-to-day conversations).  The decision sparked tremendous controversy, as the Court ruled that the City of New London, Connecticut could condemn properties for redevelopment purposes for purely economic reasons. 

In other words, the City did not even pretend that it was acting to eliminate blight (the ...

The Inland Empire chapter of the International Right-of-Way Association is holding its 2009 Education Seminar and Fundraiser (Casino Night) on October 16, 2009, at the Eagle Glen Golf Course in Corona.  The event starts with lunch at 11:30 a.m. and goes through a raffle at the end of the casino night at 9:45 p.m.

The education program is entitled "Looking Forward in a Backward Right of Way World," and it features Bruce Norris of The Norris Group, talking about foreclosures, followed by three moderated panels, one on acquisitions, one on relocations, and one on eminent domain.

One ...

San Francisco's 99-year-old, historic Hugo Hotel, famed for furniture hanging off its outside walls, has been acquired by eminent domain by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.  

Kaleene Kenning's October 3, 2009 article, "Furniture on the Outside," explains that the historic site was purchased by the Patels in 1964 for $400,000, but when the Redevelopment Agency came knocking, they wouldn't sell for less than $7 million.  The Redevelopment Agency's $3.25 million offer was not accepted and an eminent domain action was filed.  The owners were eventually awarded ...