City of Rancho Cordova

Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Rancho Cordova v. The Lily Company

After a 7 day trial in October, chaired by David Skinner and Neli Palma, Judge Raymond M. Cadel, judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento, overruled the Lily Company’s legal challenge to the Redevelopment Agency’s use of eminent domain.

In an effort to implement its redevelopment plan and to eliminate blighted conditions along Folsom Boulevard in the City of Rancho Cordova, the RDA filed an eminent domain action in 2009 to acquire an approximate 9-acre site owned by the Lily Company. The Lily Company filed a legal challenge to the RDA’s legal authority to use eminent domain, and Judge Cadei held a 7-day trial on that challenge in October. 

In upholding the RDA’s right to take the property, Judge Cadei stated that the Resolution “contains ample evidence of the blighted condition of the subject property and the surrounding area, of the need to acquire the subject property in order to further the objectives of the City’s Redevelopment Plan…to lead to the greatest public good and the minimum of private injury.” Furthermore, though the Lily Company contended that the RDA colluded with the Los Rios Community College District on a proposed deal involving the District’s potential purchase of the property, Judge Cadei stated that the “Court finds no evidence to support” that claim. Judge Cadei overruled other claims made by the defendant, ultimately declaring the RDA’s “right to take defendant’s property pursuant to the Resolution of Necessity.”

Status

Status: Completed
Completed Date: December 2010

Attorneys

	Neli Palma Associate Email	Neli Palma advises and represents public agency clients in eminent domain matters during all phases of the proceedings, from: initial entry onto property for project planning, to authorization for filing an action in eminent domain, to litigation, to appeal.
	David W. Skinner Principal Email	David Skinner is the Managing Principal of Meyers Nave.  He also chairs the firm’s Litigation Department. A renowned trial attorney with over 21 years of experience, David represents public agencies in a wide array of complex and high profile litigation matters. He has successfully tried numerous jury and bench trials in Southern and Northern California.