Contra Costa Water District v. Vaquero Farms, Inc.
California Court of Appeal
58 Cal. App. 4th 883 (1997)
- Written by Abby Roughton, JD
Facts
Vaquero Farms, Inc. (Vaquero) (defendant) owned 6,000 acres of land in California. Roughly one-third of the land was used for wind-power electrical production under a 30-year lease between Vaquero and a wind-power developer. The lease gave the developer the right to harness and develop wind power on Vaquero’s property in exchange for compensation, including a share of the proceeds from electricity sales. In 1993, the Contra Costa Water District (the water district) (plaintiff) brought an eminent-domain action against Vaquero in California state court, seeking to acquire roughly 3,500 acres of Vaquero’s property for a public-reservoir project. The water district proposed severing some of the wind-power rights from the fee interest in the property and reserving those wind-power rights for Vaquero. Vaquero filed a demurrer to the complaint, asserting that the water district did not have the right to sever the wind-power rights from the condemned fee interest. Vaquero argued that the water district had to condemn Vaquero’s wind-power rights, too, and fairly compensate Vaquero for those rights. The trial court overruled Vaquero’s demurrer, and the matter proceeded to a jury trial on the valuation of the property. The jury ultimately found that the water district owed Vaquero roughly $14.4 million. Vaquero moved for a new trial, but the trial court denied the motion and entered judgment in accordance with the jury’s verdict. Vaquero appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Ruvolo, J.)
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