C&C Properties, Inc. v. Shell Pipeline Company

I. Background

A. The Easements and Pipelines Shell Pipeline Company and Alon Bakersfield Property, Inc. owned easements and underground oil and gas pipelines on a parcel of land in Bakersfield, California. The easements were unrecorded. In October 2013, the plaintiffs, C&C Properties, Inc., JEC Panama, LLC, and

Wings Way, LLC, purchased the property to develop an office complex, without knowledge of the easements or the pipelines. C&C did not discover the pipelines until April 2014. (Docket Entry No. 241 at 1890). On June 19, 2014, C&C sent letters to Shell and Alon demanding that they remove or relocate the pipelines within 60 days. (Docket Entry Nos. 164-1, 164-2). C&C then learned of the unrecorded easements and sent a second set of demand letters, dated August 5, 2014. (Docket Entry Nos. 164-5, 164-6). The second set of letters also demanded removal or relocation of the pipelines within 60 days—or no later than October 4, 2014. The defendants did not relocate the pipelines until December 2015. B. The Trial

In November 2014, C&C sued Shell and Alon for trespass and, alternatively, for breach of the easement agreements. (Docket Entry No. 1). C&C…