Courts have historically denied inverse condemnation claims by property owners against water suppliers where the quality of water or chemicals used allegedly caused corrosion or damage to water pipes. However, under a recent line of cases, that bar to recovery may be shifting. In a new unpublished decision, Micheli v. City of Fresno (2026 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 1027), the Court permitted a large-scale, class action inverse condemnation lawsuit to proceed where homeowners claimed the City’s water supply corroded their pipes and caused health-related concerns.
Background ...
In 2024, in what was heralded as a big win for developers in California, the U.S. Supreme Court upended decades of California precedent and held that legislatively enacted development impact fees must satisfy the “essential nexus” and “rough proportionality” tests established in Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (1987) 483 U.S. 825 and Dolan v. City of Tigard (1994) 512 U.S. 374. Sheetz v. County of El Dorado (2024) 601 U.S. 267. But the Supreme Court did not decide whether the legislatively enacted fee program at issue in Sheetz actually failed to comply with ...
Appraising a property being acquired through eminent domain involves a number of unique valuation rules, including highest and best use, larger parcel, date of value, and unique evidentiary restrictions on comparable sales and hypothetical conditions. One of those rules is known as the “project influence rule”: an appraiser must disregard any increase or decrease in the property’s value due to the project for which the property is being acquired. A recent court of appeal decision, City of Pacifica v. Tong (2024 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 7984*), highlights why this rule is not ...
Throughout all of the ups and downs in 2021, there have been multiple developments on the eminent domain front, including the special occasion where the U.S. Supreme Court heard a takings case. Outside of case law, 2021 saw the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed, which aims to provide federal funding for infrastructure projects for many years to come. All in all, 2021 was a fairly busy year for right-of-way and eminent domain practitioners.
Click here for summaries of the prominent cases and developments in eminent domain from 2021...
Eminent Domain Report is a one-stop resource for everything new and noteworthy in eminent domain. We cover all aspects of eminent domain, including condemnation, inverse condemnation and regulatory takings. We also keep track of current cases, project announcements, budget issues, legislative reform efforts and report on all major eminent domain conferences and seminars in the United States.
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