Contra Costa Water District v. Vaquero Farms, Inc.

58 Cal. App. 4th 883 (1997)

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Contra Costa Water District v. Vaquero Farms, Inc.

California Court of Appeal
58 Cal. App. 4th 883 (1997)

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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