Albers

In these four consolidated actions the plaintiffs, on the theory of inverse condemnation, were *254 awarded judgments aggregating $5,360,000. The county’s appeals are taken on a clerk’s transcript so that the county cannot and does not contend that the findings are not supported by the evidence. A number of the plaintiffs have also appealed from the judgments. Those appeals will be considered after disposing of the questions raised on the county’s appeals.

The litigation grows out of a major landslide which commenced in 1956, and is still continuing, in the Portuguese Bend area of the Palos Verdes Hills, situate along the southerly coastline of the Los Angeles Basin. Palos Verdes Hills form a peninsula which extends into the Pacific Ocean east of Santa Monica and west of San Pedro. Portuguese Bend is a small bay or inlet situate between two minor peninsulas (Portuguese Point and Inspiration Point) on the southerly coastline of the larger peninsula. The Portuguese Bend area also includes Portuguese Canyon, which extends north from the inlet to the crest of the Palos Verdes Hills. In the twenties development commenced in the area, resulting in the establishment and construction of…