Eminent Domain Report

It depends.  A recent decision out of the Federal Circuit tackled this very issue, and the court's decision strongly suggests that a taking could arise under the right circumstances.  (Filler v. U.S. (Fed. Cir. Mar. 10, 2015) Case No. 2014-5117.)  As you probably already guessed by my use of the phrase "strongly suggests," both the lower court and the Federal Circuit in this case found that the plaintiff's challenge did not present the "right circumstances."

After sustaining a work-related injury, an employee of the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service visited the ...

On Tuesday, the Lake Elsinore City Council adopted a Resolution of Necessity to acquire a 2+ acre property in order to expand Serenity Park.  As Michael Williams describes in his article "City hopes to take over boat launch,"  the expansion is part of the City's plan to develop a skateboarding arena .  The City's staff report says the City has been negotiating with the property owners for about a year, but that they have not agreed on a price for the property.  The staff recommended the city move forward with an eminent domain lawsuit.

It isn't clear why the owners rejected the City's offers ...

As this article by OCTA explains, the Southern California region is growing both in terms of population and in the volume of goods moving through the region via both road and rail.  I am sure many of us are familiar with the impacts this has on our daily lives -- like being stuck for what feels like hours at a train crossing.  But several local agencies are doing what they can to ease our pain.  In Orange County, OCTA is in the midst of its OC Bridges program building grade separations.  And in Los Angeles, the Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority (ACE) has completed several new ...

We've been following the saga of the Keystone XL pipeline for a while now, and the battle rages on in Washington.  Yesterday, the Republican-led Senate attempted to override President Obama's veto of a bill to approve the pipeline.  For those a bit lost in all the political and legal wrangling, the recent story began with a bill in Congress designed to grant approval to the controversial pipeline project.  The bill passed the Senate on January 29 and the House in mid-February and was sent to the White House for President Obama's signature.

But just as promised, President Obama vetoed the ...

As California continues to expand and improve its infrastructure, public agencies are more frequently running into contaminated property.  A frequent question for eminent domain attorneys is:  "how does contamination impact 'fair market value' in a condemnation action?"  My general advice is that the contamination should be treated just as it would in an open market transaction.  But how is contamination handled in a typical transaction -- and how does it impact value?  Aside from potential clean-up costs, are there lending issues, and is there a general stigma with contaminated ...

Public projects take years of planning and environmental review usually involving outreach to neighboring property owners and other stakeholders. During this process, potential right of way impacts are identified and property owners (and their potential buyers or tenants) become aware of the planned project. As we have described in the past, this can result in a cloud of condemnation over the property, affecting the value of that property. Property owners often feel they should be compensated for this uncertainty. But it is difficult for owners to succeed on these claims. (Check ...

California’s infrastructure is aging. There have been numerous reports of water line breaks and gas line leaks, and public agencies have been moving quickly to upgrade their utilities to minimize these risks and satisfy increasing demands. When incidents do occur, when do agencies face potential liability in inverse condemnation? A recent California Court of Appeal decision, Kelly v. Contra Costa Water District (Feb. 10, 2015) 2015 Cal.App.Unpub.LEXIS 924, while unpublished, provides some guidance.

In Kelly, the owners of a self-storage facility in Pittsburg, California ...

The burning question, is why?  While this is not the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has ever granted a petition for review in the same case, it is certainly not common.  And, it is downright uncommon for the Supreme Court to grant a second petition for review when the central issue in the case is a takings issue.  So what is the Supreme Court planning to do?  Are they going to revisit their 2013 decision and find that they made a mistake, and that the Hornes are actually required to first bring their takings claim in the Court of Federal Claims?  Or, is the Supreme Court ...

When a public agency acquires a portion of property, under California law the property owner is entitled to "severance damages" -- or damages to the remainder portion of the property that was not acquired.  Usually, determining what constitutes the "remainder property" is relatively straight-forward.  But not always.  And, the determination could have a significant impact on the amount of compensation the public agency must pay, as a property owner is not entitled to compensation for damages to separate and independent parcels that are not touched by the condemnation.

So how is the ...

In the aftermath of last year’s Rails-to-Trails Decision, Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, 572 U.S. ___ (2014), the valuation of rail corridors may become increasingly necessary.  Typically there are three approaches to valuing rail corridors:  1) Across-the-Fence approach, 2) Comparable Sales approach and 3) Income approach.

1. The Across-the-Fence approach (ATF Method) -- the most popular approach for valuing rail corridors -- appraises land utilized as a right-of-way by assuming that its market value per square foot is equal to the value of adjacent or ...