An ePublication of the Los Angeles County Bar Association
Volume 7, Number 12 • December 2012 • Archive of Past Issues
Real Property Home Page

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CEQA
Environmental impact report was fatally flawed where it mis-described the objectives of a project to allow city to provide extraterritorial water and sewer services to an undeveloped portion of a college campus and failed to discuss any feasible alternatives to limit the impact of the project on city's water supply.
Habitat and Watershed Caretakers v. City of Santa Cruz (Regents of the University of California)
filed November 27, 2012, Sixth District
Cite as H037545

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Construction Law
An unlicensed contractor could not use the alter ego doctrine to "borrow" a corporation's contractor's license.
Twenty-Nine Palms Enterprises Corporation v. Bardos
filed October 11, 2012, publication ordered November 8, 2012, Fourth District, Div. Two
Cite as E051769

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Construction Law
A builder has no obligation to provide documents to a homeowner under Civil Code Section 912(a), commonly referred to as "SB 800" or the "Right to Repair Act," unless the homeowner has served notice of a claim under Section 910 thereof.
Darling v. Superior Court (Western Pacific Housing, Inc.)
filed November 16, 2012, First District, Div. Five
Cite as A135747

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Eminent Domain
In an eminent domain proceeding, a business owner is entitled to a jury trial on the amount of goodwill lost by a taking only if the owner first establishes, as a threshold matter, that the business had goodwill to lose.
People ex rel. Department of Transportation v. Dry Canyon Enterprises, LLC
filed November 28, 2012, Second District, Div. Six
Cite as B234198

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Foreclosure of Deed of Trust
The omission of a trustee on a deed of trust securing a home loan does not preclude non-judicial foreclosure of the deed of trust.
Shuster v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP
filed November 29, 2012, Second District, Div. Six
Cite as B235890

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Land Use
Government Code Section 65588 expressly contemplates that, in meeting its housing obligations, a municipality will need to alter existing land use regulations, including existing limitations in other elements of an adopted general plan. Inclusion in the revision of a housing element of proposed changes to other land use regulations in a general plan was expressly contemplated by the legislature and permitted on the condition the municipality sets forth a timeline for adoption of such proposed changes.
Friends of Aviara v. City of Carlsbad
filed November 1, 2012, Fourth District, Div. One
Cite as D060167

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Land Use
Advertising "wallscape" on side of commercial building was not "lawfully erected" within the meaning of Business and Professions Code Section 5216.1 where, at the time it was erected, its size exceeded the maximum permitted by law; it was closer to the nearest highway than allowed by law; and it lacked the required permit. That government did not attempt to enforce Outdoor Advertising Act against noncompliant wallscape until 22 years after it was erected and seven years after current owner acquired property did not preclude enforcement after that time. Mere government inaction with respect to land use regulation will not give rise to equitable estoppel or laches, so owner must show that it affirmatively and reasonably relied on some statement or action of the government that led it to believe the nonconforming use would not be the subject of an enforcement action. Abatement of unlawfully erected wallscape did not give rise to an inverse condemnation claim where wallscape was not a lawful use at the time owner acquired the property.
West Washington Properties, LLC v. California Department of Transportation
filed October 10, 2012, publication ordered November 5, 2012, Second District, Div. Eight
Cite as 2012 S.O.S. 5683

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Land Use
Approval of project by city's community development department director triggered 90-day limitations period set forth in Government Code Section 65009(c)(1)(E). Action alleging planning and zoning violations not commenced within that period is time-barred.
Stockton Citizens for Sensible Planning v. City of Stockton (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.)
filed November 13, 2012, Third District
Cite as C067164

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Mobile Home Parks
The requirements of the California Coastal Act of 1976 and the Mello Act apply to a proposed conversion within California's coastal zone of a mobile home park from tenant occupancy to resident ownership, and such a conversion is not a "development" for purposes of the Coastal Act. Subdivision Map Act does not exempt mobile home park conversions from compliance with other state laws, nor does it preclude local governmental agencies from exercising state-delegated authority to require such compliance.
Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates, LLC v. City of Los Angeles
filed November 29, 2012
Cite as S187243

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Mobile Home Parks
City could not deny application for mobile home park conversion to individual ownership based on results of statutorily required survey, where results showed that conversion--although it did not have majority support--was not a sham intended solely to avoid rent control. Under the Permit Streamlining Act, once city accepted park owner's conversion application as complete, it could not deny the application based on lack of evidence that the survey had been properly conducted.
Chino MHC, LP v. City of Chino
filed October 31, 2012, Fourth District, Div. Two Cite as E053467
Cite as A128596

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Quiet Title Action
In an action to quiet title, trial court had no power to partially extinguish a granted easement to accommodate what it perceives as the dominant tenement's reasonable needs. Trial court's action is unsupported by case law and is not a reasonable extension of precedent.
Cottonwood Duplexes, LLC v. Barlow
filed November 13, 2012, Third District
Cite as C069564

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Real Estate Brokers
The Real Estate Commissioner committed a prejudicial abuse of discretion by denying the plaintiff a broker's license based solely on the nature of a prior conviction--where there was no factual finding supported by substantial evidence that the plaintiff's rehabilitation was inadequate.
Singh v. Davi
filed October 24, 2012, publication ordered November 19, 2012, Third District
Cite as C068120
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Slander of Title
Where a second deed of trust was a forgery and therefore void, the buyer of a property could not prevail on a claim for slander of title against owners who filed a lis pendens in connection with a quiet title action, and the owners' motion to strike under California's anti-SLAPP statute was properly granted.
La Jolla Group II v. Bruce
filed November 28, 2012, Fifth District
Cite as F061829

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Water Law
The failure of defendant water companies to exercise their prescriptive rights during times of surplus does not amount to disuse within the meaning of Civil Code Section 811.4. Plaintiffs were, however, entitled to a judicial declaration confirming that their overlying rights to the native groundwater were prior to those of all appropriators less the amounts to which defendant water companies are entitled pursuant to their prescriptive rights.
City of Santa Maria v. Adam
filed November 21, 2012, Sixth District
Cite as H032750

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