Concrete Service Co. v. State of California Ex Rel. Dept. Pub. Wks.

The question posed on this appeal is whether a condemning authority, desiring to acquire real property for a public use, may avoid payment for personal property consisting of industrial equipment owned by a tenant, which is admittedly part of the realty for purposes of condemnation, by the device of an out-of-court purchase of the landlord-owner’s fee followed by the authority’s termination of the tenancy and demand for the land “clear of all improvements. ”

Appellant Concrete Service Company (Concrete) filed an action in inverse condemnation against the California Department of Public Works,…