Eminent Domain Report

Jump start your Spring learning goals with the International Right of Way Association's upcoming events throughout California.  Join Nossaman's Eminent Domain & Valuation Chair, Brad Kuhn, for a presentation entitled Managing Publicly Owned Property: Best Practices for Leases, Licenses, and Encroachments.

On Friday, April 5th, Brad will be presenting at the IRWA Chapter 42 Spring Training Conference at the Valley Transportation Authority Auditorium in San Jose, CA.  For more information on the Spring Training Conference, please visit Chapter 42's website ...

Nossaman LLP invites you to join us for our 2019 seminar "Eminent Domain From Start to Finish:  Streamlining the Basics & Navigating the Complexities from Precondemnation to Litigation."  Whether you are new to the Eminent Domain arena or a seasoned pro, this complimentary afternoon seminar with panels of Nossaman attorneys and leading industry professionals will provide extensive insight and guidance into the process of eminent domain.  We will be presenting the seminar at both the Luxe City Center Hotel in Los Angeles, on Tuesday, March 19^th, and the City Club of San Francisco, on ...

When a local government agency impermissibly spot zones a property, thereby depriving it of all economically beneficial uses, can the property owner seek to invalidate that zoning decision, or is the owner left with a claim for damages under the theory of a regulatory taking? In a recent published California district court decision ...

A few months ago, we reported on a Court of Appeal decision, Bottini v. City of San Diego, where the Court held that delays resulting from a governmental agency's improper denial of a permit application for a new development did not result in a regulatory taking.  The case involved a local agency's improper application of CEQA to a proposed residential development, and the property owner successfully securing a decision by the court to overturn the City's requirement to comply with CEQA where there was a clear exemption.  The owner also sought damages due to a lengthy delay in ...

Join Brad Kuhn, Chair of Nossaman's Eminent Domain & Valuation Practice Group, at the International Right of Way Association's Chapter One Annual Valuation Seminar.  The event will be held on Tuesday, February 12, 2019, at the Quiet Cannon Conference Center in Monterey Park, CA.  Brad will be addressing What To Do When the Cookie Isn’t From A Cutter:  Unusual Valuation Scenarios From Eminent Domain.  For current information on the seminar, please consult the IRWA Chapter One website.

Covering Los Angeles, Chapter One is the founding Chapter of the International Right of Way ...

Please join Nossaman Eminent Domain & Valuation Partner Rick Rayl at CLE International's 21st Anniversary Southern California Eminent Domain Conference.  The event will be held from Thursday, January 31^st through Friday, February 1^st at the DoubleTree Downtown in Los Angeles.  Rick will participate in the presentation, Case Law Update:  The Latest Developments, on January 31^st at 10:45 a.m.  Additional topics covered during the conference will include: Government Regulation of Short-Term Vacation Rentals, Insights into Severance Damages, and California’s Wildfires and Potential Inverse ...

With the recent widespread reports of sea-level rise triggered by global warming, the California Coastal Commission -- a state agency which regulates coastal development -- plans to release a proposal in early-2019 which provides guidelines to local jurisdictions on how to combat the potential impacts.  The stakes are enormous, as the Commission believes many homes along California's 1,100 miles of coastline will inevitably be wiped out by a rising ocean.  According to an article by Anne Mulkern in E&E News, Calif. prepares policy for coastal 'retreat', the suggested ...

When the government physically takes or occupies property without first going through the rigorous procedural requirements under California eminent domain law, usually it's a clear-cut case of inverse condemnation liability.  But a recent California Court of Appeal case provides a unique exception involving property subject to dedication.

In Prout v. California Department of Transportation (Dec. 18, 2018, 2018 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 8523),  Caltrans sought to use a 1.3-acre strip of land to make improvements to Highway 12 in Calveras ...

Ever since the demise of redevelopment agencies in 2012, there have been a variety of legislative efforts to revive, incrementally or in whole, some form of redevelopment in California.  We have seen enhanced infrastructure financing districts, community revitalization and investment authorities, and more traditional affordable housing authorities and joint powers authorities.  But we have yet to truly see a funding source that would revive the use of redevelopment tools.  The political climate is much different now than in was in 2012:  California has a surplus budget, there is an ...

In a recent unpublished Court of Appeal decision, Downs v. City of Redding (October 30, 2018), the Court took up two distinct issues: (a) whether a contractor’s use of property for construction staging constitutes a taking when such use is not authorized by the agency, and (b) whether "just compensation" requires payment of damages for the taking of a tree.  Both of these issues are common occurrences in many of the projects we work on and while the Court’s holdings may not come as a surprise, they are a good reminder of the fairness and equity courts apply to such issues ...