City of Stockton v. Albert Brocchini Farms, Inc.

Plaintiff City of Stockton (City) moved to exclude the testimony of the valuation expert for defendant Albert Brocchini Farms, Inc., in this action for eminent domain. The trial court found the expert’s opinion did not have a sufficient factual basis and excluded it. The defendant then stipulated to entry of judgment at the value that the plaintiff’s experts assigned. On appeal, the defendant argues the trial court should have allowed the expert to testify to the discounted cash value of the income that could be realized if a landfill operated on its property. Plaintiff City cross-appeals, arguing the trial court erred in failing to offset interest on the award with the value of the defendant’s continued permissive occupation of the property after plaintiff City obtained the right of possession.

We conclude that the income to be derived from placing landfill on a property is not akin to income from mineral or other natural resources on a property, thus the attempt to base value on a hypothetical landfill operation is subject to the traditional ban on such evidence. We further conclude a business loss of a defendant in possession does not preclude offsetting the fair…