Opinion ID: 6938514
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Respect for California’s Interpretation of “Business Goodwill”

Text: The majority’s efforts to limit the interpretation of business goodwill run contrary to California’s efforts to insure a liberal interpretation of that term. In addition to the California statutory and case law discussed above, the California legislature expanded the scope of protection for business goodwill in the eminent domain context through the enactment of Cal.Code Civ. Pro. § 1263.510. As a California Court of Appeals explained: Historically, business goodwill was not an element of damages under eminent domain law. As recently as 1975, the California Supreme Court reaffirmed the principle that damage to a business conducted on property condemned for public use was not compensable as a property right under the just compensation clause of the California constitution. But in 1975, the Legislature enacted a comprehensive revision of California's eminent domain law, which, among other things, authorizes compensation for the loss of business goodwill. Asaro, 261 Cal.Rptr. at 233 (internal citation omitted). The majority’s failure to address the development of the law of business goodwill in California belies its implicit claim that the rule it announces today somehow advances federalist interests.