RECENT CALIFORNIA DECISIONS

February 2009

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First District Affirms No Compensation for Goodwill when Undeveloped Parcel, Approved for Multi-Unit Mixed-Use, Is ‘Taken’ by Eminent Domain
City and County of San Francisco v. Coyne, ___Cal.App.4th___

The City and County of San Francisco (San Francisco) acquired in an eminent domain proceeding, a parcel of undeveloped property located on Lombard Street in San Francisco and owned by appellants Martin J. Coyne and Brian Murphy O’Flynn (together: appellants). The appellants planned to develop the parcel for a multiunit residential and commercial complex, and sought damages for lost business goodwill in the eminent domain proceeding. The trial court barred the claim for business goodwill and a jury rendered a judgment awarding the appellants just compensation for the real property taken. The Court of Appeal rejected the appellants’ contention that the trial court erred by precluding them from presenting evidence of the loss of goodwill and affirmed, concluding that the trial court correctly determined that the appellants had no ongoing business located on the undeveloped parcel taken.