Aleshire & Wynder Secures Summary Judgment in Favor of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes in a Federal Takings Lawsuit

City Attorney William W. Wynder and Deputy City Attorney Isaac C. Young Secured Summary Judgment in Favor of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes in a Federal Takings Lawsuit

A property owner within the City’s active Portuguese Bend Landslide filed a lawsuit alleging the City of Rancho Palos Verdes engaged in a “taking” of private property under the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause when the City refused to issue a grading permit to scrape a segment of a private road for the property owner to engage in development of its property. The City argued, and the court agreed, that there could be no “taking” when the roadway in question was privately owned by a community association that objected to removal.  The court further held that all indispensable parties had not been joined in the lawsuit and that the City had no legal duty to issue a permit in an active landslide in any event.