• Land Use Attorney Capitola

CASE UPDATE: Private Property Owner Liable To County, Under Reasonableness Test, For Failing To Maintain Storm Drainage Channel Through Its Property In City of Richmond.

In Contra Costa County v. Pinole Point Properties, LLC (2015) 2015 WL 1544978, the court affirmed the trial court’s decision that a downstream property owner was liable for damages caused by its failure to maintain a drainage channel that crossed its property.  The subject property was owned by Pinole Point Properties and located along San Pablo Bay in the City of Richmond.  The subject property was undeveloped except for two main railroad berms and a few large drainage pipes under the berms, and the property contained an 8-foot wide by 6-foot deep drainage channel that flowed to the Bay.  Pinole Point Properties caused the drainage channel to become obstructed and nonfunctional by failing to maintain it and keep it clear of silt, vegetation and debris since it purposed the property 30 years ago.  (The prior owner of the property did do such maintenance.)  As a result, a large upstream storm drain pipe installed by Contra Costa County did not function as designed and the County was required to spend large sums of money in emergency flood protection efforts to protect a nearby residential neighborhood during large storm events.

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CASE UPDATE: Court Rejects Strict Interpretation Of “Merger Doctrine” In Sonoma Winery Nondisclosure Case.

In Ram’s Gate Winery, LLC v. Roche, (2015) 2015 WL 1570193, the court of appeal reversed the trial court’s summary adjudication judgment and held that there were disputed issues of fact involved in a real estate non-disclosure case.  Plaintiffs purchased property in Sonoma County upon which they intended to build a new winery.  After the close of escrow, the buyers first discovered an active fault trace on the property that substantially increased their cost of development, and they sued the sellers for fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract for failing to disclose the fault. 

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CASE UPDATE: Court Holds That Public Recreational Use Exception Did Not Apply As A Defense To A Private Prescriptive Easement.

In Pulido v. Pereira, (2015) 234 Cal.App.4th 1246, the court of appeal upheld the trial court’s determination that a prescriptive easement existed and that the public recreation exception (Civ. Code § 1009), did not apply.  Pulido purchased some undeveloped property in Calaveras County.  For six years, the Pulido always accessed the property via a road called Quartz Hill Drive (which was a private road owned by Pereira), by disconnecting a chain strung between two posts at the entrance to the road.  One day, Pereira installed a gate and lock across the road entrance and told Pulido that he could no longer use the road.  Unfortunately, locking the gate affected several other neighbors who also used the road to access their properties, and the neighbors sued.  The trial court held that the neighbors had a prescriptive easement, satisfying the elements that the use of the property was open, notorious, continuous and adverse for an uninterrupted period of five years.

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CASE UPDATE: Defrauded Home Buyer Entitled To Full Rescission Notwithstanding Complications Involved In Unwinding The Sale Several Years Later.

In Wong v. Stoler, (2015) 237 Cal.App.4th 1375, the court of appeal reversed the trial court judgment denying rescission remedies to defrauded home buyers.  The buyers purchased a hillside home for $2.35 million. The sellers failed to disclose and actively concealed the facts that: the home was on a private sewer system that went down a steep ravine through public open space; that the property was subject to an informal homeowners’ association to maintain the sewer system; and that the local government agency had issued a notice of abatement to fix leaks in the sewer system.  Plaintiffs’ experts testified that the sewer system was susceptible to damage, and that system failure was inevitable and would cost $500k-$600k to replace two of the lines.

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CASE UPDATE: Court Rejects “Equitable Easement” Claim

Court rejects property owner’s claim that he had an “Equitable Easement” to use an improved patio area on his neighbor’s property and remanded the case back to the trial court to adjudicate the plaintiff’s prescriptive easement claim.

In Shoen v. Zacarias, (2015) 237 Cal.App.4th 16, the court of appeal overturned the trial court and rejected plaintiff’s claim that she had an “equitable easement” to use a patio area on her neighbor’s property that was only accessible from the plaintiff’s property.   The equitable easement doctrine evolved to give courts discretion to balance hardships in neighbor disputes over the use of property, and it can be used when a party cannot satisfy all the elements for an actual or prescriptive easement.  The court summarized the current rule as follows:

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CASE UPDATE: Borrower Is Not Required To Tender Balance Of Loan As A Condition Of Filing Suit For Violations Of Pre-Foreclosure Sale Loan Modification Requirements Set Forth In The “Homeowner’s Bill Of Rights”.

In Valbuena v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, (2015) 237 Cal.App.4th 1267, the court of appeal held that the Homeowner’s Bill of Rights (“HBOR”, Civil Code §§ 2920.5 et al.), did not require a defaulting debtor to tender the loan balance as a condition of filing suit for violations of the pre-foreclosure sale loan modification requirements contained in the HBOR.

This was a “dual tracking” case.  Dual tracking occurs when a bank forecloses on a loan while it is in the process of negotiating with the borrower to avoid foreclosure, and it is generally prohibited by the HBOR.  (Civil Code §§ 2923.6, 2924.12.)  The HBOR provides that a mortgage servicer must offer the borrower a loan modification or workout plan, and that the loan servicer it shall not record a notice of default or conduct a trustee’s sale while the loan modification application is pending — and otherwise not until the loan servicer makes a written determination that the borrower is not eligible and the 30 day period to appeal that determination has expired.

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CASE UPDATE: California Supreme Court Upholds City Of San Jose’s Affordable Housing / Inclusionary Housing / Affordable Housing Ordinance.

In California Building Industry Association v. City of San Jose (2015), the California Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeal’s ruling and upheld the City of San Jose’s inclusionary housing ordinance.  In order to address state policies and goals intended to encourage more affordable housing units, hundreds of  California municipalities have adopted what are commonly referred to as “inclusionary zoning”,  “inclusionary housing” or “affordable housing” programs, which typically require or encourage developers to set aside a certain percentage of housing units in new or rehabilitated projects for low- and moderate-income residents.

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A Summary Of The Minor Subdivision Process

An effective way to add value to real property is to increase its development potential, and a good way to do that is to subdivide it so that a greater number of units can be constructed on it.

Legal Overview

Any division of a single legal parcel into two or more parcels is a “division of land” subject to the state Subdivision Map Act (“SMA”, Gov’t Code sections 66410 et seq.) and local regulation.

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CASE UPDATE: Court Determines 1858 Boundary Line In Soquel.

What happens when two surveyors disagree about a boundary line?  That question was answered in Bloxham v. Saldinger, (6th Dist. 2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 729, which is a property line dispute case concerning Santa Cruz Mountains property near Soquel Creek in which the court of appeal affirmed a trial court decision that found one of two recent surveys of a 1858 boundary line was more credible. The underlying facts are pretty interesting: The issue at trial was the location of the original 7-mile long western boundary of the “Soquel Augmentation Rancho.”

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CASE UPDATES: Broker Disclosures; Reconciling Nonconforming Structures and Variance Rules; New Santa Cruz County Medical Cannabis Cultivation Ordinance

SELLERS’ BROKERS DO NOT OWE DUTIES OF CARE AND DISCLOSURE TO BUYERS’ MINOR CHILDREN

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Company, Inc. v. Superior Court, (2014) 117 Cal.App.4th 158, was a real estate non-disclosure case.  After a house buyer and her minor child moved into their newly purchased house, they both developed asthma caused by toxic mold that was allegedly not disclosed by the seller’s broker, and they both sued the seller’s broker for personal injuries and property damages under multiple causes of action including fraud (nondisclosure/concealment), emotional distress and nuisance.

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Miles J. Dolinger
Attorney at Law
A Professional Corporation

314 Capitola Avenue Capitola, CA 95010
Phone: (831) 477-9193
FAX: (831) 477-9196
miles@dolingerlaw.com

“I would definitely go with Mr. Dolinger again, and I would recommend him in a heartbeat to anyone who is looking for representation. He knows his business and he is very good at it.”

Richard. February 8, 2015
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