In Granny Purps, Inc. v. County of Santa Cruz, published August 5, 2020, the Sixth District Court of Appeal affirmed in part and reversed in part a trial court's dismissal of a lawsuit after an order sustaining a demurrer. The county's ordinance limited cultivation of medical marijuana to 99 plants. The plaintiff corporation's marijuana dispensary was…
In Weiss v. People ex rel. Dept. of Transportation, published July 16, 2020, the California Supreme Court reversed a judgment entered in an inverse condemnation case after the trial court resolved liability issues on a motion made under Code of Civil Procedure section 1260.040. Property owners brought the action alleging that sound walls along the 5…
In Ruiz v. County of San Diego, ordered published April 7, 2020, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division 1 reversed a judgment after bench trial in an inverse condemnation case. Before the plaintiffs bought their property, a stream across the property was improved with a concrete channel, which developers then replaced with a pipeline on…
In Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco, published March 17, 2020, a divided panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a challenge to a rental property conversion program as a regulatory taking. The defendant city instituted an expedited conversion program for permitting rental property owned by tenants-in-common to be converted…
In City of Oroville v. Superior Court (California Joint Powers Risk Management Authority), published August 15, 2019, the California Supreme Court unanimously reversed a lower appellate court decision denying a writ of mandate seeking to overturn an interlocutory decision under Code of Civil Procedure section 1260.040 holding the city liable for inverse condemnation. A city sewer…
In Knick v. Township of Scott, PA., published June 21, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a district court decision and a Third Circuit decision dismissing a regulatory takings case as unripe. The plaintiff, on whose land neighbors were buried, challenged an ordinance that required cemeteries to be kept open and accessible to the public. The…
In Black v. City of Palos Verdes, published September 6, 2018, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 1 affirmed the trial court's decision denying a petition for a writ of mandate and finding that the defendant city's moratorium on construction in a landslide area was not a regulatory taking. The city had areas where ancient…
In Wlliams v. Moulton Niguel Water District et al., published May 3, 2018, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division 3 affirmed judgment granted to the defendant water district after a bifurcated bench trial. The plaintiff class of homeowners alleged that the district's addition of chloramine to the water the homeowners were receiving caused pinhole leaks…
In Sierra Palms Homeowners Association v. Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, published January 29, 2018, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 7 reversed the dismissal after demurrer of a homeowner's association's suit against a public transit entity. The homeowners association sued the Authority for allegedly interfering with the homeowners' quiet enjoyment and damaging…
In Mercury Casualty Co. v. City of Pasadena, published August 24, 2017, the Second District Court of Appeal, Division 3 reversed a court judgment holding the defendant city liable for inverse condemnation. A parkway tree that was over 100 feet tall grew in the parkway in front of Mercury's insured's house. In an unusual storm in…