RECENT CALIFORNIA DECISIONS

January 2008

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First District Court Finds Easement by Necessity Was Extinguished when Federal Government Refrained from Invoking Eminent Domain to Secure Right-of-Way
Murphy v. Burch, ___Cal.App.4th___

On November 19, 2007, the First District Court of Appeal concluded that the government’s power of eminent domain precluded a finding that it needed an easement from a landlocked parcel to a public road when it conveyed away abutting parcels. The court ruled that any existing easement by necessity was extinguished when the federal government, as original owners of both properties at issue, sold one piece of the property to the respondent Burches’ predecessors in interest while retaining ownership of the neighboring property (later sold to plaintiff Murphy’s predecessors in interest) and subsequently refrained from invoking eminent domain to secure a right-of-way.