San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board v. Price Co.

The Price Company (Price) appeals a judgment in condemnation. The trial court excluded from jury consideration evidence of access impairment as an element of severance damages. Price asserts prejudicial error by the exclusion of the evidence.

Price owns a 9.205-net-acre parcel of land (Price Land) in the City of Santee, California, located at the southeast comer of Cuyamaca Street, which is a north-south street, and Buena Vista Avenue, which is an east-west street.

In connection with the construction and use of a north-south light rail transit line located in the center of Cuyamaca Street, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB) filed this condemnation action to acquire (i) a permanent easement along the westerly boundary of the Price Land extending in width from approximately 6.5 feet to approximately 17.5 feet measured perpendicularly in an easterly direction from Cuyamaca Street, and (ii) a temporary “construction easement” over a 12-foot-wide strip of the Price Land contiguous with and easterly of the permanent easement.

Construction of the transit line in the center of Cuyamaca Street includes the installation of concrete berms adjacent and…