Eminent Domain Report

Yesterday's IRWA Chapter 1 seminar in Los Angeles was a great success, with an outstanding panel of speakers.  The morning started with an informative presentation by Dave Guder of Southern California Edison about the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project and renewable energy sources in general. 

The liveliest discussion, however, centered around a narrow issue that triggered some surprisingly animated responses.  The issue involved a condemning agency's use of one appraiser for the initial eminent domain offer and deposit of probable compensation, and another appraiser ...

Typically, regulatory takings litigation generates a lot of noise and gnashing of teeth but, at the end of the day, rarely are government agencies bitten with an order that they pay compensation. However, a new opinion from the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Guggenheim v. City of Goleta (Sept. 28, 2009, Case No. 06-56306), demonstrates that regulatory takings litigation can have teeth. In Guggenheim, the 9th Circuit holds that the city of Goleta's rent control ordinance on mobile home parks went too far and that the city will have to pay the park's owners just compensation ...

On October 20, Chapter 1 of the International Right-of-Way Association is holding its Fall Seminar.  The event is being chaired by one of my partners, David Graeler, and it has a good line-up of speakers. 

One of the more interesting discussions may be the 10:50 session looking at eminent domain from both an agency and a landowner perspective.  The speakers for that session are Michael Thornton, from my firm's San Francisco office, and Gary Kovacic, from Sullivan, Workman & Dee in Los Angeles ...

There was an interesting discussion at the IRWA Chapter 57 seminar last Friday, and it’s one that I have seen play out many times in many contexts, so I thought it was worth a short discussion here. The issue was when the illegal gift of public funds doctrine comes into play in the context of an eminent domain case (the text appears in Article XVI, section 6 of the California Constitution). The concept is simple: The government cannot give away public funds to a private person or company. The eminent domain scenario is all too frequent: A proposed settlement is for more than the property’s ...

In June 2005, the United States Supreme Court issued its now infamous decision in Kelo v. City of New London.  That decision made eminent domain and condemnation household terms (imagine my shock at hearing my previously unknown, niche area of practice discussed in normal, day-to-day conversations).  The decision sparked tremendous controversy, as the Court ruled that the City of New London, Connecticut could condemn properties for redevelopment purposes for purely economic reasons. 

In other words, the City did not even pretend that it was acting to eliminate blight (the ...

The Inland Empire chapter of the International Right-of-Way Association is holding its 2009 Education Seminar and Fundraiser (Casino Night) on October 16, 2009, at the Eagle Glen Golf Course in Corona.  The event starts with lunch at 11:30 a.m. and goes through a raffle at the end of the casino night at 9:45 p.m.

The education program is entitled "Looking Forward in a Backward Right of Way World," and it features Bruce Norris of The Norris Group, talking about foreclosures, followed by three moderated panels, one on acquisitions, one on relocations, and one on eminent domain.

One ...

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 ...

I attended the IRWA Chapter 1 (Los Angeles chapeter) lunch meeting today, and listened to my partner, Rick Friess, speak about the Pitfalls of Prejudgment Possession [PDF]. The most lively part of the discussion centered on the requirement that condemning agencies offer the property owner $5,000 to obtain his or her own appraisal, and whether the agencies can condition that money on anything. There was clear agreement on the fact that to date, no case has interpreted the requirement, and that there is at least some ambiguity about what, if any, conditions may be imposed.

Typically ...

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 ...