Inverse Condemnation in California: When a Public Project Damages Private Property

Last updated: October 2026

When a public entity takes or damages private property for public use without paying for it, the owner's claim is inverse condemnation. The owner sues to force the compensation that eminent domain would have required. The owner does not have to prove the agency was negligent. Only that the public improvement, as deliberately designed, built, or maintained, caused the damage. A property owner who wins is awarded reasonable attorney, appraisal, and engineering fees as part of the judgment. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1036.) Kolmogorov Law, P.C. represents property and business owners in inverse condemnation and related nuisance and dangerous-condition claims in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and across California.

Call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online if a highway, rail, flood control, or utility project has damaged your property.

How these cases arise

A highway widening redirects storm runoff onto a neighboring parcel, which floods every winter. A railroad embankment and a state drainage culvert combine to send water across a residential lot and into the structure. A city sewer main backs up into a commercial building. A utility's equipment starts a fire. A flood control channel's capacity is exceeded by design, and the overflow path runs through private land.

None of those involve a formal taking. All of them can be inverse condemnation, because the California Constitution requires just compensation when private property is taken or damaged for public use, and "damaged" is the word that matters.

What the owner must prove

The elements are ownership of the property, a public improvement or public use, and damage substantially caused by the improvement as deliberately designed, constructed, or maintained. Fault is not an element in the ordinary case. The question is causation: did the public improvement, functioning as intended or as the agency chose to maintain it, cause the harm. For water cases, California applies a reasonableness inquiry that weighs the public and private interests, but the owner still does not have to show negligence.

That distinction is the reason inverse condemnation is pleaded alongside, and often instead of, a negligence or dangerous-condition claim. The negligence claims require proof of fault and face governmental immunities. The inverse claim does not.

Who the defendants are

The public entities that own, designed, or maintain the improvement. The state transportation department. A county flood control district. A city, a water district, a transit authority. Private entities can also be liable when they operate a public use, such as a utility or a railroad exercising public functions, and the cases against them follow similar rules. Projects often involve more than one entity, and the entities often point at each other; a cross-complaint for indemnity between them is routine, and it does not slow the owner's claim.

Government claims and timing

Most money claims against California public entities require a written claim to the entity within a short period before suit. Inverse condemnation claims are generally exempt from that requirement. The related nuisance, trespass, and dangerous-condition claims are not, and they carry their own deadlines measured in months. We file the government claim on the related theories as a matter of course so that nothing is lost while the inverse theory is developed. The limitations period for the inverse claim itself depends on whether the damage is permanent or continuing, which is a factual question we address early with the engineer.

Damages and fees

Compensation is measured by the loss in the property's fair market value for a permanent taking or damage. For damage that can be fixed, it is the cost of repair and loss of use. Related losses such as business interruption are added where the law allows. For an owner who obtains a judgment awarding compensation, the court must also award a sum that will reimburse the owner's reasonable costs, disbursements, and expenses, including reasonable attorney, appraisal, and engineering fees, actually incurred because of the proceeding. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1036.) That fee-shifting rule is what makes a case against a public entity with a large legal budget feasible for an individual owner or a small business.

Experts decide these cases

Inverse condemnation is engineering litigation. Hydrology, drainage design, soil, and structural experts establish how the water or the fire got from the public improvement to the private property. An appraiser establishes the loss. We retain the engineer before the complaint is filed where possible, and we preserve the physical evidence, because the agency's experts will have access to the same site.

Stopping ongoing damage

Where the damage recurs with every storm, an injunction requiring the agency to abate the condition may be available alongside damages. See our page on TROs and preliminary injunctions. Courts are cautious about ordering public entities to redesign improvements, so the request has to be specific and engineered.

Where these cases are heard

Inverse condemnation cases are filed in the Superior Court of the county where the property is located. That is the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana for Orange County, the Stanley Mosk Courthouse for Los Angeles, and the San Bernardino Justice Center for the Inland Empire. Cases against state agencies and railroads are often assigned to a single judge for all purposes because of their complexity. Our Orange County and Los Angeles pages describe the courthouses.

What to bring to the first meeting

Bring the deed, photographs and video of each damage event with dates, any correspondence with the agency, repair invoices and estimates, insurance correspondence, and whatever you know about the public project: when it was built or changed, who owns it. If you have already filed a government claim, bring it and the response.

Frequently asked questions

What is inverse condemnation?

A lawsuit by a property owner against a public entity to recover just compensation for property taken or damaged for public use without eminent domain proceedings. The owner sues because the government did not.

Do I have to prove the government was negligent?

No. In the ordinary inverse condemnation case the owner proves that the public improvement, as deliberately designed, constructed, or maintained, substantially caused the damage. Fault is not required, which distinguishes the claim from negligence.

Can I recover attorney fees in an inverse condemnation case?

Yes. A plaintiff who obtains a judgment awarding compensation is awarded reasonable attorney, appraisal, and engineering fees and other expenses actually incurred because of the proceeding, as part of the judgment. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1036.)

Do I need to file a government claim first?

Inverse condemnation claims are generally exempt from the claim presentation requirement, but related claims such as nuisance, trespass, and dangerous condition of public property are not, and their deadlines are short. File the claim on those theories while the inverse claim is prepared.

Can a railroad or utility be sued for inverse condemnation?

Yes, where the entity operates a public use and the damage results from that use. Railroads and utilities are regular defendants in these cases, often alongside a public agency.

Talk to a California inverse condemnation attorney

If a public project has flooded, burned, or otherwise damaged your property or business premises, call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. is at 327 Magnet, Irvine, CA 92618, and represents owners in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and throughout California. See also our real estate litigation page.

This page provides general information about California law and is not legal advice. Outcomes depend on the engineering evidence, the public entities involved, the deadlines, and the court.