Southern Pacific Pipe Lines, Inc. v. Board of Supervisors

This is an action to invalidate an assessment district that was created to fund road improvements in the area of Sacramento County known as the Bradshaw Road/U.S. 50 Corridor. The plaintiff, Southern Pacific Pipe Lines, Inc. (SPPL), transports refined petroleum products by underground pipelines. SPPL owns and operates a refined petroleum products storage terminal on property within the proposed assessment district. SPPL filed its complaint in October 1988, seeking to have the assessments declared invalid on a variety of constitutional and statutory grounds, arguing that SPPL’s assessed properties did not receive the “special benefit” necessary to justify the levying of a special assessment.

This matter comes to us after a grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant Sacramento County Board of Supervisors (Board). The trial court rejected each of SPPL’s challenges, finding that the administrative record supported the Board’s determination of special benefit, and that SPPL’s constitutional and statutory arguments failed as a matter of law. The trial court also denied SPPL’s motion for leave to file an amended complaint to add a cause of action for fraud, finding that…