Gehr
Gehr v. Baker Hughes Oil Field Operations, Inc.
Opinion
Opinion
Suzukawa, J.
After granting defendants’ summary judgment motion and denying plaintiff’s summary adjudication motion, the trial court entered judgment for defendants. We affirm the judgment.
BACKGROUND
This action involves a 13-acre commercial property (the property or the site) in the City of Commerce. Allegedly, defendants, the former owners, polluted the property with chemical solvents before they sold it to plaintiff in 1985. In 2006, plaintiff sued defendants for damages under a continuing nuisance theory. Specifically, plaintiffs sought to recover interest rate differential damages, contending that because of the contamination, a prospective lender had refused to refinance plaintiff’s note secured by a first trust deed to the property.
Under California law, damages for diminution in value may only be recovered for permanent, not continuing, nuisances. (Santa Fe Partnership v. ARCO Products Co. (1996) 46 Cal.App.4th 967, 977-978 [ 54 Cal.Rptr.2d 214 ] (Santa Fe Partnership).) In this case, it is undisputed that because the limitations period for bringing a permanent nuisance claim has expired, damages for diminution in value are unavailable. Plaintiff contends, however, that he…