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…

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…

Often times, I encounter a project design that includes a temporary construction easement (TCE) which purpose is for the agency to reconfigure/restripe an entire parking lot, or reconstruct landscaping being altered by a taking (for example, a street widening project).  As the matter moves closer to condemnation, it is not uncommon for the property owner…

Every so often, a condemning agency may come across an exception to title indicating the existence of mineral rights 500 feet or more below the surface, with no surface right of entry. If during the last 20 years there has been no production of the minerals and no exploration, drilling, mining or development that affected…

The Eminent Domain Law allows a property owner to challenge the right to take property on grounds that the agency will not likely devote the property to the stated purpose within seven years.  (CCP § 1250.360(d)) The recent case of Rutgard v. City of Los Angeles (2020) Cal.App. LEXIS 709 is a good reminder that…

In an eminent domain case, the acquiring agency admits it is taking private property for a public project.   Certain aspects of eminent domain law and procedure are codified in the Code of Civil Procedure, which provisions make up the Eminent Domain Law.  One of these procedures requires that parties in an eminent domain case exchange…