California Court of Appeal

In an appeal arising out of a condemnation action in which defendant sought to introduce evidence of the value of their land for an underground natural gas storage project based on reservoir volume, the trial court's in limine ruling, excluding defendant's valuation approach based on evidence all independently operated gas storage projects in California compensate landowners based on surface acres contributed to the project, is affirmed where: 1) the court did not err in factually distinguishing the holding in Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Zuckerman (1987), 189 Cal.App.3d 1113 that was decided at a time when there was not yet a developed market in California for natural gas storage leases; 2) defendant has not established his entitlement to cross examine an expert before that expert may give a declaration in support of a pretrial motion; and 3) defendant forfeited the remainder of his arguments for failure to develop the argument, to cite any legal authority, or to provide any citation to the appellate record.

Appellate Information

• Published 2017/05/11

Judges

• HOCH

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel