Brown

Joe Brown appeals the trial court’s dismissal of his complaint for inverse condemnation against the State of California (State). The action was dismissed after the court sustained the State’s demurrer without leave to amend.

I

Factual Background

In October 1990, Joe Brown filed suit against, inter alia, the State for inverse condemnation. Holding promissory notes secured by deeds of trust on portions of what is now known as the McColl Superfund Site, he alleged the State took “exclusive possession and use of said property with an alleged plan devised to remove said waste, sludge and odor, or the effects thereof, for public use and benefit and not for any private purpose.” He continued: “For more than ten years last past [the State has] taken and now take[s] exclusive possession and use of said real property to the exclusion of plaintiffs and [has] deprived plaintiffs of their rights, title and interest in said real property arising out of and flowing from their deeds of trust in that” (1) the trust deeds are in default, (2) foreclosure would be futile, (3) the owners have abandoned the property, (4) the tax collector has refused to abate the taxes, unpaid by the…