Supreme Court of California

In a dispute between landowners and the Department of Water Resources, which sought via statutory precondemnation procedure (as opposed to classic condemnation action) to perform environmental and geological testing of private land to investigate the feasibility of constructing a new tunnel or canal in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as a means of delivering fresh water from Northern California to Central and Southern California, the Court of Appeal judgment is reversed in its entirety, both insofar as it affirmed the trial court's denial of the Department's proposed geological testing and insofar as it reversed the trial court's authorization of environmental testing, where the procedure established by the precondemnation entry and testing statutes satisfies the requirements of the California takings clause when the procedure is reformed to comply with the jury trial requirement of that clause.

Appellate Information

• Published 2016/07/21

Judges

• LIU

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel