Shelton

Background

It appears as though Ms. Donleavey brought a separate but related inverse condemnation action against the County of Fresno (County) seeking just compensation for the taking of her roadway easement that resulted from the County’s construction and operation of its wastewater treatment facility on property adjacent to her own.

In settlement of this inverse condemnation action, the County agreed, in part, to purchase a certain interest in the real property owned by Ms. Donleavey. The April 1991 settlement was initially drafted in such a way so as to make Ms. Donleavey’s obligations contingent on the County’s being able to convey to her an appurtenant 60-foot nonexclusive private road easement for access and utility service to the portion of the Donleavey property not being sold and which would become landlocked once the County obtained title to the property interest it had agreed to purchase from her. In August of 1993, that settlement agreement was modified so that Ms. Donleavey agreed to extend the period of time for the County to convey title to the easement for additional one-year periods if, despite its diligent efforts at prosecuting the necessary…