CITY OF LOS ANGELES, Petitioner v THE SUPERIOR COURT, Respondent; PETER PLOTKIN et al., Real Parties in Interest.

The Second District Court of Appeal considered whether landowners had shown that the City of Los Angeles’ voluntary acquisition program, adopted in lieu of a sound insulation program in certain neighborhoods near LAX, created “condemnation blight”,therefore entitling the landowners to inverse condemnation compensation. Property owners argued that the City had been purchasing properties in their neighborhoods through a voluntary acquisition program, relocating the residents, and demolishing the structures. Thereafter, the land was left vacant and undeveloped. In ruling against the landowners, the Court of Appeal held that the property owners had failed to establish that the city had either a plan to use the acquired property for a public purpose, or intended to acquire the landowners’ property or any nearby property through condemnation. The landowners, therefore, failed to show they were entitled to summary adjudication on their inverse condemnation claim.