Twain Harte Associates, Ltd. v. County of Tuolumne

Appellants sued for inverse condemnation and declaratory relief, alleging that the adoption of a Tuolumne County (the County) ordinance rezoning a portion of a parcel of real property they owned constituted a “taking” for which just compensation must be paid. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the County, on the ground no taking had occurred and owners had failed to exhaust available “administrative reme dies.” The moving papers, however, disclose the existence of a triable issue of material fact on whether any attempt by owners to secure administrative relief from the ordinance would have been “futile.” Thus, we reverse and remand.

The owners’ complaint, filed October 23, 1987, contained two causes of action. The first count sought to plead a right to recover in inverse condemnation under the “Laws of California and Article I, section 19 of the Constitution of the state of California” on the ground a June 1987 “down-zoning” deprived the [owners] of “all reasonable use of the property” and “prevented [owners] from receiving a fair return on [their] legitimate investment-backed expectations.”

The second count, for declaratory relief, incorporated all…