When a public agency seeks to impose a land exaction on a planned development, the analysis of whether the proposed dedication meets the necessary "essential nexus" and "rough proportionality" tests is often cumbersome and...more
It appears the raisin handlers' luck in the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision Horne v. US Department of Agriculture has spawned a new federal takings challenge by another group of fruit growers. This time it's a group of...more
Money is once again being allocated to improve public infrastructure in California. The California Transportation Commission announced this week the award of $487 million to various projects throughout the state. ...more
The Press Democrat is reporting that Sonoma County has agreed to pay $815,000 to acquire by eminent domain a family's 6.5-acre property next to the Charles M. Schulz airport for a runway extension project, settling the...more
It's not too often a property owner succeeds with an inverse condemnation/regulatory takings claim based on a general plan amendment or zone change. The owner must generally demonstrate that the regulation either on its...more
We haven't provided much in the way of updates recently on California infrastructure projects requiring eminent domain. Either we've been too busy to notice or it's been surprisingly quiet recently. But, some headlines did...more
In our niche practice of eminent domain, inverse condemnation, and regulatory takings, the blogosphere world is going bonkers. Why? Because the United State Supreme Court just issued its decision in Koontz v. St. Johns...more
6/26/2013
/ Dolan v City of Tigard ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Koontz v St John's River Water Management ,
Land Developers ,
Nexus ,
Nollan v California Coastal Commission ,
Permits ,
Rough Proportionality Test ,
SCOTUS ,
Takings Clause ,
Wetlands
According to an article in the Mercury News, Fremont may use eminent domain process to buy land needed for proposed downtown, the City of Fremont's City Council will be holding a public hearing on Tuesday to consider the...more
Given the maze of procedural and substantive hurdles involved, property owners rarely succeed with regulatory takings claims. Even when owners do win, it is yet more uncommon for courts to award damages, instead allowing the...more
The California Transportation Commission (CTC) recently announced the award of $878 million to fund 114 transportation projects. ...more
Light rail and rapid transit appear to be the hot ticket in California. Most of our right-of-way acquisition and eminent domain work over the last few years has centered on such projects. One interesting dispute that...more
California's loss of business goodwill statute, Code of Civil Procedure section 1263.510, provides that before a business can submit its goodwill claim to a jury in an eminent domain case, the business must first demonstrate...more
Acquiring property for public projects typically does not occur until after the project has received environmental approval. While this is the generally accepted rule – and it makes sense for a number of reasons – must a...more
According to an article in the Daily Republic, Jury: County owes $1.24M in eminent domain dispute, Solano County and a local land owner recently completed an eminent domain trial, and the jury sided with the owner. The case,...more
According to an article in the Whittier Daily News, La Mirada agrees to pay $1.8 million to settle eminent domain case for new railroad underpass, the City of La Mirada has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle the last...more
For those of you who have followed Nossaman's blog since the very early days, you'll recall our coverage of a significant regulatory takings case, Monks v. City of Rancho Palos Verdes. The 2008 California decision received...more
Over the past several months, we've been following some of the recent takings cases that have made their way up to the United States Supreme Court. So where do things currently stand?...more
According to an article in the Press Democrat, Rohnert Park OKs eminent domain at site of future hotel, restaurant, the Rohnert Park City Council recently adopted a resolution of necessity authorizing the use of eminent...more
Below are some updates on California projects have turned to eminent domain to complete right-of-way acquisition. They involve issues that are somewhat typical in condemnation proceedings: disputes over severance damages and...more
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the owner of Silveira Ranch are involved in an interesting valuation dispute stemming from Caltrans' acquisition of part of the ranchland needed for Highway 101...more
California continues to move forward with more infrastructure improvement projects. According to an article in the Daily Republic, Agency starts eminent domain proceedings for I-80/680 project, the Solano Transportation...more
Originally Published in Daily Journal, January 15, 2013.
As we look back on 2012, federal funds continued to make their way to local projects and shovels continued to break ground for infrastructure projects. This led to...more
1/15/2013
/ Arkansas Game & Fish v U.S. ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Condemnation ,
DOT v Dry Canyon ,
Eminent Domain ,
Evidence ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Flooding ,
Jury Questions ,
Just Compensation ,
Loss of Goodwill ,
Mortgages ,
SCOTUS ,
Takings Clause ,
Underwater Homeowners ,
Valuation Experts
As we mentioned in our recent 2012 Eminent Domain Year in Review, we've seen a boom of infrastructure projects in California -- a trend we expect to continue into the near future. So what exactly are we talking about? ...more
Originally Published in Daily Journal, January 4, 2013
It has been quite a busy year for takings cases, and the state Court of Appeal provided one last published eminent domain opinion just before 2012 came to a close....more
It has been quite a busy year for takings cases. While our readers can soon expect our annual "Year in Review E-Alert," the California Court of Appeal decided to grace us with one more published eminent domain opinion just...more