Carpenter

The plaintiff, the Insurance Commissioner of the State of California, as conservator of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of California, instituted this action against the city of Santa Monica for damages for the taking or damaging of the real property alleged to be owned by the insurance company and alleged to have been caused by the construction of a breakwater by the city in the harbor. The insurance company intervened and is the appellant. The parties stipulated that the issue as to the amount of damages should not be tried until after the court had first determined whether there was any liability on the part of the city in the circumstances. The trial court determined that the city was not liable for the alleged damage, and, as a result, that issue was not tried.

The appellant acquired title to certain beach properties in the city of Santa Monica in October of 1934. The property is improved with a nine-story building, designed and used exclusively as a beach club. The southwest boundary of this land is the mean high tide line of the Pacific Ocean. Prior to July of 1933 there was a wide beach between the club house and the water. In that month the city commenced the…