United States v. 156.81 Acres of Land, More or Less

671 F.2d 336 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. 156.81 ACRES OF LAND, MORE OR LESS, situate IN the COUNTY OF MARIN, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, Frank W. Lynch, Ellenora C. Lynch, Edward R. Fitzsimmons, Elizabeth S. Fitzsimmons, Karl Melchers, Karl W. Melchers, Karen Melchers Stackhouse, Helene Goode Stackhouse, Defendants-Appellants. No. 79-4547. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted May 13, 1981. Decided March 12, 1982. Robert Huddleston, Oakland, Cal., for defendants-appellants. Claire L. McGuire, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Francis B. Boone, Asst. U. S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Before WALLACE and SKOPIL, Circuit Judges, and KENYON, * District Judge. SKOPIL, Circuit Judge: FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW 1 Appellants owned roughly 156.81 acres of undeveloped land in Marin County, California. They had purchased the property for its development potential. It was not income-producing. In July 1976 the United States filed a complaint in condemnation against the land and appellants. The government sought the property for the Golden…