McCann

Defendants City of Los Angeles and City of Glendale appeal from a judgment based on breach of an easement agreement for damages in the amount of approximately $32,000.

Plaintiff purchased a piece of real property at 4570 Colorado Boulevard in the City of Los Angeles. He desired to construct a manufacturing facility, warehouse, and offices on it. The property was previously used only to stable horses and for pleasure horse riding.

When he purchased the property, plaintiff was aware that it was subject to a sewer easement purchased by the City of Glendale in 1925. A sewer running diagonally across the property was constructed in 1925 to 1927. It was a 42-inch unreinforced concrete semielliptical sewer buried 15 to 20 feet underground. It was a main trunk line of the sewer system, serving the communities of Glendale, Burbank, San Fernando, and Los Angeles. If this sewer were damaged and it failed, a significant health hazard would have resulted.

Without special designs to prevent the weight of plaintiff’s building from bearing down on the sewer, construction of the building would have damaged the sewer. The City of Los Angeles operated and maintained the sewer pursuant to…