The Los Angeles Daily Journal reports that a case just settled in Orange County, California. (Katie Lucia, Eminent Domain Settlement May be State’s Largest This Year, Sep. 10, 2013) The city filed an eminent domain action and took a 13-acre parcel for an 86-acre park. The problem was that the appraisers for the city of Lake Forest did not assign any value for severance damages to the mineral deposits (sand and gravel) under the subject land, so the city deposited $7.4 million, and just before trial lowered its offer to 6.6 million.
The problem, according to the city, was the cost of developing the land after removal of the minerals. The city at first contended that the cost of mineral removal and of redeveloping the land after that would exceed their value. But shortly before the case was to go trial, the city was born again, and settled the case for $15.4 million.