Eminent domain
Lehrer had his medical offices at 139 South Broadway in Los Angeles, when he acquired a group of neighboring tenement buildings in the early 1950s, anticipating that the State of California would take them under Eminent domain to build a new California State Building. Lehrer was unable to obtain financing to buy one additional building, a former Thrifty Drug Store, 133-135 South Broadway; its owner was Gabriel Laskin. When California did condemn the buildings, Hodge L. Dolle, an attorney known for his expertise in eminent domain, represented Lehrer. The tenement buildings have since been demolished and the land, acquired by the state, has passed to the city and may become a public park.