Eminent Domain Report

Valuing mineral rights in eminent domain proceedings is inherently speculative and can lead to wide swings in property valuations.  So how do appraisers best deal with the uncertainty involved in mineral exploitation?  The California Court of Appeal recently provided some guidance in San Diego Gas & Electric Company v. Arnold J. Schmidt et al. (2014) 2014 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 5090.  

In Schmidt, the Court allowed the introduction of the property owner’s appraiser’s valuing 115 acres of vacant in San Diego based on the projected future income the property would generate for mining ...

If you ask ten attorneys what keeps them up at night, at least six of them will recount nightmares about missing a filing deadline.  I know what you're thinking.  How hard can it be?  You just look in the Code, find the applicable limitations period, and then you're off.  However, as with all things law related, it very rarely is that simple.  In a recent decision issued by the Second Appellate District, the court explained why filing deadlines are not the only thing practitioners should have nightmares about.  In Excelaron, LLC v. County of San Luis Obispo

"Motions in limine" are motions made shortly before trial, and they're typically filed in an attempt to limit the introduction of evidence to the jury.  They are a powerful tool in eminent domain proceedings, and can be used to limit an appraiser's comparable sales, valuation methodology, or even the expert's entire testimony.  In a recent unpublished California Court of Appeal decision, Verizon of California v. Carrick (2014 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 5030), the Court even approved of the use of an in limine motion to determine whether a party had a compensable interest in the property ...

Californians who have owned their properties for years understand the benefits of Proposition 13: their property taxes are based upon the property's purchase price (with only small allowable annual increases), as opposed to the property's current value.  But upon a transfer, the property gets reassessed at its current value.  Consequently, people in California often wind up with higher property taxes when they sell one property and buy another, even if the new property costs exactly what they received for the sale of the old property.

When an owner is forced to "sell" as a result of the ...

Undaunted by the so-called "death of redevelopment," several California cities have pushed to reinvent -- a.k.a. redevelop -- their downtown cores.  And it appears to be working.

The San Jose Mercury News recently reported that the city of Fremont is breaking ground soon on its extension to Capitol Avenue, creating a new "Main Street" for its Downtown District.  And Fremont is not alone.  Stockton also has a plan to "Bring Downtown Back."  In Southern California, The Desert Sun reports that Palm Springs is moving forward with its downtown redevelopment.

So perhaps redevelopment ...

As reported in the Willits News, Caltrans is going forward with public workshops for the Sherwood Road Intersection Project, one of four "child projects" of the Willits Bypass project, which is anticipated to increase the traffic on Sherwood Road.

But Willits residents won't be seeing improvements any time soon, because construction is dependent on the opening of the Willits bypass, a segment of US 101 through Mendocino County that has been in the works since the 1950s.  And construction of the bypass is currently suspended while Caltrans and the Army Corps of Engineers work ...

The Oxnard Union High School District began Eminent Domain procedures to acquire property owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The property is required for construction of a right-turn lane for the new Rancho Campana High School, scheduled to open in time for the 2015-2016 school year. According to reports, the City of Oxnard set a deadline of June 30, 2014 for the district to acquire the property or begin the eminent domain process. Although the parties are currently engaged in negotiations, the district initiated eminent domain procedures in order to meet the ...

As reported in Caltrans District 11's press release, there is much good news coming out of California Transportation Commission's meeting last week.  First, thanks to a new state budget that increased transportation funding by $351 million, CTC revised its budget for SHOPP projects to $2.4 billion.

Local projects also received good news with CTC's award of $510 Million to 83 transportation projects around the state.  As reported by Progressive Railroading, several rail projects received significant funding, which will hopefully allow those projects to proceed to ...

Just a few months ago, the California Court of Appeal handed down a significant decision in Property Reserve v. Superior Court which nearly eviscerated public agencies' ability to make use of the statutory "right of entry" procedure to gain access to private property to conduct any significant investigations and testing.  The Court held that any notable physical intrusion onto private property constituted a taking, meaning the public agency needed to proceed with an eminent domain proceeding.  The decision caused an uproar among public agencies across the state.  Well, pump the ...

Along with my colleagues Brad Kuhn, Ben Rubin, and Katherine Contreras, I'm here in Hartford at the IRWA Annual Education Conference.  It's been an interesting few days as we discuss eminent domain issues in the shadow of New London, Connecticut, battle ground of the infamous Kelo decision.  

I spoke yesterday on a panel moderated by Orell Anderson, alongside attorneys Jim Ray and Jeff Pollack.  Our topic involved how contamination issues are handled in litigation.  It was a great session, even though it did not go at all as we planned it.  The extremely engaged audience consumed nearly the ...