Taper

These are appeals from judgments in coordinated fictions in eminent domain and inverse condemnation.

Procedural History

On February 7, 1977, Sydney Mark Taper as testamentary trustee of the Barry Hugh Taper Trust, later joined as a party plaintiff by Barry Hugh Taper (collectively the Tapers), filed an action in the Los Angeles Superior Court against the City of Long Beach (City) seeking damages for inverse condemnation, for unreasonable delay in instituting eminent domain proceedings and other oppressive conduct, and for breach of statutory duty under Government Code sections 7267.5 and 7267.6, all in respect to a parcel of oceanfront property in Long Beach. (For convenience, the inverse condemnation action will be referred to as the inverse action.) On August 9, 1977, also in Los Angeles Superior Court, City filed an action in eminent domain in respect to the same property, naming as defendants the inverse action plaintiffs and, in addition, the State of California (the State). (For convenience, the eminent domain action will be referred to as the direct action.) The two cases were coordinated pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 404 et seq., in the Orange…