Property Reserve on Hold: Supreme Court to Review Eminent Domain Right of Entry Statutes
“Just a few months ago, the California Court of Appeal handed down a significant decision in Property Reserve v. Superior Court which nearly eviscerated public agencies’ ability to make use of the statutory “right of entry” procedure to gain access to private property to conduct any significant investigations and testing. The Court held that any notable physical intrusion onto private property constituted a taking, meaning the public agency needed to proceed with an eminent domain proceeding. The decision caused an uproar among public agencies across the state. Well, pump the brakes: the California Supreme Court just decided to review the case.
The Court will decide the following issues:
Do the geological testing activities proposed by the public agency (in this case, the Department of Water Resources) constitute a taking?
Do the environmental testing activities (soil borings, endangered species testing, etc.) constitute a taking?
If so, do the precondemnation entry statutes (Code Civ. Proc., ยงยง 1245.010-1245.060) provide a constitutionally valid eminent domain proceeding for the taking?
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Kuhn, Brad. California Eminent Domain 26 June 2014.