State ex rel. Department of Water Resources v. Texaco, Inc.

In the course of constructing the California Aqueduct along the west side of Kern County, appellant condemned a right of way, of which approximately 28.2 miles were intersected by three oil pipelines owned and operated by respondent, Texaco. The pipelines had to be relocated and a controversy arose over whether appellant, as condemner, was liable for the cost of relocating the lines.

Texaco’s right to maintain the pipelines derived from three agreements witli the owner of the fee. Two of the agreements are denominated “Pipe Line License Agreement,” and all three are similar in content. Appellant contends that the agreements convey only a license to Texaco-, which is not a compensable property interest under the laws of condemnation. Additionally, appellant points out that the grantors in all three agreements reserved the right to require Texaco to relocate, at its own expense, any pipeline that interfered with the grantors’ use of the property. Thus, argues appellant, as owner of the fee by virtue of condemnation, it succeeded to the right of the grantors to require Texaco to relocate the pipelines at its own expense. To avoid delay in construction of the aqueduct, the…