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- Easement -
A quiet title judgment cannot be entered in the absence of all parties with an interest in the property at issue; homeowners who have their lots to the center of the private streets they abut are indispensable parties to litigation over the grant of an easement for use of those streets. Plat maps may be used to precisely define an easement, and when an easement is defined by a map, it is decisive.
Ranch at the Falls v. O’Neal (Eagle Knight Security Systems) - filed July 31, 2019, Second District, Div. Eight
Cite as 2019 S.O.S. 3724
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- EIR -
A city was not required to prepare an environmental impact report to assess the loss of affordable housing and displacement of tenants that would result from the conversion of an apartment building into a hotel where the building had been withdrawn from the rental market years before the city commenced its environmental review for the hotel project.
Hollywoodians Encouraging Rental Opportunities v. City of Los Angeles (Millennium Settlement Consulting/1850 North Cherokee) - filed June 28, 2019, publication ordered July 22, 2019, Second District, Div. Three
Cite as 2019 S.O.S. 3488
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- Inverse Condemnation -
Public entities are not strictly or otherwise automatically liable for any conceivable damage bearing some kind of connection, however remote, to a public improvement; if the public entity made reasonable assumptions about the public improvement in question, a plaintiff must show that the damage to private property was substantially caused by inherent risks associated with the design, construction, or maintenance of the public improvement to prevail on a claim for inverse condemnation.
City of Oroville v. Superior Court (California Join Powers Risk Management Authority) - filed Aug. 15, 2019
Cite as 2019 S.O.S. 4000
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- Landlord Tenant -
The doctrine of equitable estoppel cannot be used to compel a rent control board to act beyond its statutory authority and in contravention of the Rent Control Law.
1041 20th Street v. Santa Monica Rent Control Board - filed July 30, 2019, Second District, Div. Five
Cite as 2019 S.O.S. 3696
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- Map Act -
A proposal to subdivide Williamson Act land for residential development under the Map Act requires that that development be connected to production of an agricultural commodity for commercial purposes. That an agricultural preserve may include open spaces has nothing to do with whether a proposed division of that preserve contemplated by a tentative map complies with Government Code §66474.4.
Cleveland National Forest Foundation v. County of San Diego (Genesee Properties) - filed July 25, 2019, Fourth District, Div. One
Cite as 2019 S.O.S. 3621
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- Mortgage Modification -
A mortgage lender owes no tort duty to a homeowner during contract negotiations for a mortgage modification.
Sheen v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. - filed Aug. 5, 2019, Second District, Div. Eight
Cite as 2019 S.O.S. 3788
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A mortgage lender did not breach the terms of a loan forbearance agreement by declining to modify a homeowner’s loan after the homeowner made three trial payments since the agreement clearly disclaimed a promise to modify. While a lender can owe a duty of care in processing load modifications, a lender cannot be found liable for breaching that duty in the absence of any allegations that suggest a failure to comply with the lender’s duty. The Homeowner Bill of Rights requires a lender to provide specific reasons for denying a loan modification; a lender’s assertion that it did not have do not have contractual authority to modify a loan because of limitations in its servicing agreement does not suffice as an explanation.
Potocki v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. - filed July 11, 2019, publication ordered Aug. 7, 2019, Third District
Cite as 2019 S.O.S. 3874
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- Waste -
Pursuant to the Porter-Cologne Act, a regional board may issue orders to enforce its water quality control plans and may issue orders mandating the cleanup and abatement of waste by any person who has caused or permitted any waste to be discharged or deposited where it is, or probably will be, discharged into the waters of the state. Under the independent judgment standard of review, a trial court begins its review with a presumption that the administrative findings are correct, but it does not defer to the fact finder below; the question is not whether any rational fact finder could make the finding below, but whether the reviewing court believed the finding actually was correct. The Administrative Procedure Act’s provisions do not automatically apply to state agencies, including the Water Board.
Barclay Hollander v. California Regional Water Quality Control Board (Shell Oil) - filed Aug. 6, 2019, Second District, Div. Three
Cite as 2019 S.O.S. 3833
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- Zoning -
The Government Code generally requires that a solar energy project comply with the zoning ordinances of the city and county in which the project's facilities are to be constructed or located; if the project includes the transmission of electrical energy, the exemption contained in §53091(e) does not apply to the project; where the administrative record does not contain any evidence of an alternative location for the project, the record does not support a finding that there is no feasible alternative to the proposed location of the project.
City of Hesperia v. Lake Arrowhead Community Service District - filed July 19, 2019, Fourth District, Div. One
Cite as 2019 S.O.S. 3456
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