Eminent Domain Report

One of the oddities of California's public utility system is that private companies own and operate many of them, yet they behave very much like governmental entities, especially when it comes to eminent domain.  Major examples include Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric ("PG&E"); both are private companies functioning as public utilities, delivering electricity to their constituents, and both are overseen by the Public Utilities Commission. 

Occasionally, an actual governmental entity will seek to replace the private utility company.  Such is the case ...

When LifeChoices sought to expand its rehabilitation center in 2002, the City of San Jose rejected the proposal, citing its plans for a future Berryessa Bay Area Rapid Transit ("BART") station, which would require freeway interchange improvements on the property.  According to John Woolfolk's October 23 Mercury News article, "San Jose to pay $2 million to acquire parcel and settle lawsuit," five years later LifeChoices' owner, John Licking, filed suit, challenging the City of San Jose's denial as constituting discrimination against the disabled.

Now, San Jose has agreed to pay ...

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.

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 ...

The City of San Ysidro, a community on the border of San Diego, is currently contemplating whether it should extend its eminent domain powers, which expired last year.  The backlash from the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New London appears to still be taking its toll, as the City's advisory committee, the San Ysidro Project Area Committee, is currently deadlocked on the topic.

Liam Dillon covers the story in a Voice of San Diego article, Masters of Their Domain, which provides some great examples of the positives and negatives of the City's use of eminent domain.

For ...

In his September 16 article entitled DWP outmaneuvered on Kern County land purchase, Los Angeles Times reporter David Zahniser described a story full of political intrigue. It seems someone with ties to Mayor Villaraigosa acquired a property out from under the Department of Water and Power (DWP), only to immediately offer to sell the property to DWP at a hugely inflated price. While the article focuses mainly on the political aspect of the situation (e.g., did the buyer know about DWPs plans for the property when it purchased it, etc.), the eminent domain angle is also interesting.

The ...

One of the odd things about a blog is that it is often difficult to determine who the authors really are – and whether any reason exists to listen to what they have to say about a particular topic. The lawyers in Nossaman’s Eminent Domain and Valuation Group are among the top eminent domain and inverse condemnation lawyers in California. We practice together out of three offices: in Orange County; Los Angles; and San Francisco. Collectively, our attorneys have over 100 years of eminent domain experience. We have been shaping California eminent domain law for years, having been ...