Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

No. What if you put in $2,000,000 to build a 100 plot subdivision and then found out that it was zoned such that you could only build ten homes? Clearly you wasted some of that money. Or with the sales price of housing having dropped so much it is obvious that property you bought 5 years ago is worth less now.

The amount you have spent is only an indicator. You are entitled to what the value of the property was at the time of the "take". Was the additional investment after the take? Then it might not be recoverable.

I have been on both sides of this issue. I defended the City of Oakland as to several "takes" and the Count of Alameda took one property and the Park District another. My experience is that the governmental entity [its attorney often is told what to do by the head of the land acquistions division who will not listen to the attorney's position] always offers significantly less then the real value of the property, shows no intelligent thought in determining what the property can be used for and thus its value, uses its own people to deterrmine values but they will ignore key facts [so their deposition need to be taken], etc. You definitely need to get an experienced attorney if you have not already retained one. Having put in $2,000,000, the attorney fees likely will be well worth while as getting a 10% increase is $200,000. If the public entity does not follow certain rules, they can end up even having to pay your attorney fees.

Or, the taking may be less than the entire parcel.........maybe you bought 100 acres and the railroad wants a 100-foot right-of-way across one corner, affecting perhaps five acres. Also, with the railroad branch across your land, it now has industrial development potential and is now worth more than you paid because of that. Just an example. The eminent domain law has adequate protection built in for the landowner, but it does not bend to accommodate every value theory of defendants - or, for that matter, of condemning plaintiffs.