Larue Wharf & Warehouse Co. v. Board of Port Commissioners

The issues upon which petitioner relies and prays for a writ of mandamus compelling the respondent to appoint an arbitrator to confer with others to determine rental or the value of improvements made by petitioner under the terms of a certain lease made by the city and through and by its board of public works and petitioner, are the same in every material respect as those presented in the ease of Board of Port Commrs. v. Williams, S. F. No. 15623 (ante, p. 381 [ 70 Pac. (2d) 918 ]), this day decided. Both proceedings were instituted for the purpose of ascertaining the rights of each person, corporation or firm, in possession—thirteen in all—under and by virtue of the provisions of the grant made of said lands by the state to the city of Oakland, May 1, 1911 (Stats. 1911, chap. 654, p. 1254), and the extent of the powers conferred on the city.

Petitioner being in a doubtful frame of mind as to whether the procedure adopted by the Williams case would necessarily compel a decision of the major question as to whether petitioner herein, and others in like circumstances, would be entitled to compensation for the improvements made by it during its occupancy of a period of twenty-five…