CALIFORNIA CASE SUMMARY UPDATE: August 2024 Real Property Case Summaries

August 2024

Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.
Helping Attorneys Get Excellent Results

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California Case Summaries™:

California Case Summaries™: Unique one-paragraph summaries, organized by legal practice, of every new published civil case each month, every quarter, and in early January each year an annual issue is released. These case summaries, offered throughout the year, give subscribers a competitive advantage to win more cases. To subscribe, click here.

Here are the case summaries  from last month:

CALIFORNIA COURTS OF APPEAL

Environment

Nassiri v. City of Lafayette (2024) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2024 WL 3449785: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s order denying a petition for writ of mandate challenging  respondent’s approval of proposal by a developer to construct a 12-unit residential condominium building in downtown Lafayette, California on a parcel that was mostly occupied by a vacant convalescent hospital on the basis that the proposed project  was exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) because it qualified as infill development under the CEQA Guidelines (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15332). The Court of Appeal was not persuaded by petitioner’s argument that the project did not qualify for the infill development exemption because the project site had value as habitat for rare species and because approval of the project would result in significant effects related to air quality. (Guidelines, § 15332, subds. (c) & (d).) Nor was it persuaded by her argument, not made in the trial court, that the “unusual circumstances” exception applied to the project so the project did not qualify for the infill development exemption. (C.A.1st, filed June 27, 2024, filed July 18, 2024.)

Real Property

City of Ontario v. We Buy Houses Any Condition (2024) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2024 WL 3594324: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s order granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff’s action for eminent domain, and its order awarding defendant $246,744.50 of the $331,161.50 in attorney fees requested. The trial court properly granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment because plaintiff had not  articulated a proposed project as required to exercise its power of eminent domain. Finding no abuse of discretion, the Court of Appeal affirmed the attorney fee award. (C.A. 4th, filed July 19, 2024, published July 31, 2024.)

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