An appraiser may take into account any sale or contract to sell, or a lease regarding the property being condemned or comparable property, if freely made in good faith and occurred before the filing of the lis pendens. [Evid. Code §§ 815, 816, 817] Note that forced sales of property — such as those under…
Important Case Update: SCOTUS rules that private parties can condemn state-owned property under federal Natural Gas Act
Today’s blog post is from one of my Bay Area Eminent Domain Partners, Kara L. DiBiasio. You can learn more about Kara and her practice by clicking on her name. This term, in PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey, the United States Supreme Court ruled that PennEast Pipeline Co., a private party, could initiate eminent domain…
Paired Sales Analysis: Should your appraiser consider more than just comparable sales?
Today’s blog post is from one of my Bay Area Eminent Domain Partners, Kara L. DiBiasio. You can learn more about Kara and her practice by clicking on her name. Many appraisers determine the value of condemned property using comparable sales. But often in partial takings, owners claim a particular feature of the post-condemnation project…
Need a Survey? No Problem.
As recognized under California’s Eminent Domain Law, agencies considering the acquisition of property for a public use may need to enter and inspect the property to make photographs, studies, examinations, tests, borings, and the like. Typically, conducting such activities requires either the consent of the owner or, if the owner refuses, an order from the…
Extraterritorial Condemnation
Unless authorized by statute, Section 1240.050 of the Eminent Domain Law precludes a local public entity from acquiring property by eminent domain outside its territorial limits. An exception exists where such power is expressly granted by statute or necessarily implied as an incident of one of its other statutory powers. A number of statutes specifically…
Authorization to Condemn? Yes, provided it is necessary for the attractiveness, safety, or usefulness of a project
California Code of Civil Procedure §1240.020: A public agency may condemn property for a particular public use where the Legislature has delegated the power to condemn for that use. But what if the project’s design includes construction of a specific, but tangential, structure or thing for which the legislature has not given the agency the…