Eminent Domain Report

We've covered in the past regulatory takings claims and the benchmark three-prong Penn Central test for analyzing potential liability.  We've also noted the issues involved in consistently applying those factors, and the resulting unpredictibility in evaluating the merits of potential regulatory takings claims.  

William Wade, Ph.D., a resource economist with the firm Energy and Water Economics, often writes about these issues, offering clearly articulated potential solutions to dealing with these Penn Central issues.  And Mr. Wade has done it again, as his recent ...

Eminent domain is typically used in the context of a freeway widening, a grade separation project, a utility corridor, or perhaps a new school.  It's not often you hear about the use of eminent domain in the healthcare industry.  But it does happen. 

Take a recent example in Oceanside:  the Tri-City Medical Center, a public hospital, is looking to expand its facility.  It apparently has the power of eminent domain, and according to a North County Times article, OCEANSIDE:  Tri-City seeks to take land through eminent domain, it's ready to use that power this week by adopting a resolution ...

You may recall that last year in Ridgewater Associates LLC v. Dublin San Ramon Services District, the California Court of Appeal held that a subsequent purchaser cannot recover for inverse condemnation where (1) it knowingly purchases property impacted by a government taking, and (2) the purchase price reflects the property's condition in light of the government impacts.  See Buyer Beware: Improper Sale Documentation Results in Waiver of Inverse Condemnation Claim by Brad Kuhn and Rick Rayl.  While the decision was originally published at 184 Cal.App.4th 629, the ...

As probably everyone following this blog already knows, redevelopment is under attack in California.  While some might assume the attack flows from continued outrage over the Supreme Court's Kelo decision, the reality is actually quite different.  Here in California, the driving force is not moral outrage, but budgetary crisis. 

As I learned earlier this week at the IRWA Chapter 67 lunch meeting, Governor Brown's plan to eliminate redevelopment is not part of some long-planned effort.  According to a presentation by one of my partners, Gale Connor, when now Governor Brown was Mayor ...

Six years ago, the US Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Kelo v. City of New London, affirming the government's ability to exercise eminent domain for purely economic purposes.  The public backlash and media firestorm surrounding the decision turned our quirky group of eminent domain attorneys into rock stars for a short moment in time.  Ms. Kelo's battle was put to print in Jeff Benedict's Little Pink House:  A True Story of Defiance and Courage, and it now appears the infamous case is making its way to your television. 

According to a Hartford Courant article

All eminent domain attorneys know the importance of getting the Final Order of Condemnation right.  After all, it's the document that gets recorded, effecting the transfer of title to the agency.  But sometimes mistakes occur, and when they do, the condemning agency typically has a remedy. 

In DFP, LTD v. Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District, an unpublished opinion issued earlier this week, the agency requested a nunc pro tunc order revising the final order to correct a "scrivener's error."  The error:  the recorded final order stated that the agency acquired an easement, when ...

A new published California court of appeal decision may be important for private utility companies with respect to the valuation of their possessory interests in public rights-of-way for property tax assessment purposes.  The case, Charter Communications Properties v. County of San Luis Obispo, provides that when assessing the fair market value of a utility's possessory interest, the County tax assessor will likely be able to disregard the utility's agreed-upon remaining term of possession and instead assume a much longer anticipated term of possession to match reality.  This ...

According to a Red Bluff Daily News article, "Eminent domain grants access in Tehama County," the realignment of Bowman Road and the replacement of South Fork Cottonwood Creek are moving forward, and the County is reaching deals with the impacted property owners, but only after the commencement of eminent domain proceedings.

One property owner is granting Tehama County a permanent easement and a temporary construction easement for $2,500, and another owner has reached a deal at $50,000.  On top of the monetary compensation, the County has agreed to create a driveway encroachment to ...

It is common practice for government agencies to condition approval of large developments on providing off-site public improvements.  Road widenings, park dedications, etc., are all too familiar for California developers.  When those improvements require others' property, many times the government agency utilizes eminent domain on the developer's behalf (with the developer footing the bill).  But what if the agency refuses?

According to an Inside Self-Storage article, "Derrel’s Mini Storage Owner Battles City, Homeowner in CA Self-Storage Eminent Domain Case," a ...

According to a Turlock Journal article, "TID moves ahead with eminent domain," the Turlock Irrigation District approved the adoption of a resolution of necessity in order to move forward with eminent domain for the Hughson/Grayson 115 kv transmission line project.  

As expected, impacted property owners are not satisfied with the agency's appraised value.  The article reports that residents are in the process of obtaining their own appraisals, and have requested a 30 day extension prior to the commencement of eminent domain proceedings.  (As a public agency, the irrigation district ...