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…

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…

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…

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…