Court Opinion

ID: 9728178
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:01:15.246067+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:46.571628
License: Public Domain

THE COURT.
In their petition for rehearing the landowners for the first time contend that interest should be allowed from the date of the filing of the complaint because their damage had occurred prior to that date. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 1255b, subd. (a) (2); Youngblood v. Los Angeles County Flood Control Dist. (1961) 56 Cal.2d 603, 611-612 [15 Cal.Rptr. 904, 364 P.2d 840]; Heimann v. City of Los Angeles (1947) 30 Cal.2d 746, 758-760 [185 P.2d 597]; and Riverside County Flood etc. Dist. v. Halman (1968) 262 Cal.App.2d 510, 514-517 [69 Cal.Rptr. 1].) This contention is rejected. (17) “The right to interest on a condemnation award springs from the judgment. [Citations.] Ordinarily, interest commences from the date of entry of the judgment. [Citations.] However, where property is taken or damaged prior to judgment, the condemnee’s right to just compensation includes the right to have the award draw interest from the date of possession [citations], or the date the property was damaged [citations]. The rules are now codified in section 1255b of the Code of Civil Procedure which provides that an award shall draw interest from the earliest of the following: ‘(1) The date of the entry of judgment. (2) The date that the possession of the property sought to be condemned is taken or the damage thereto occurs. (3) The date after which the plaintiff may take possession. . . .’ (Code Civ. Proc., § 1255b.) Plaintiff not having obtained an order for immediate possession, the right to interest in the present case turns upon the question whether the property was taken *776or damaged prior to judgment.” (Riverside County Flood etc. Dist. v. Halman, supra, 262 Cal.App.2d at pp. 514-515.)  The landowners, having failed to raise the question of interest below, and not having filed a cross-appeal, may not secure review of the question of interest at this stage of the proceedings.
The landowners also contend in their petition for rehearing that the opinion improperly provides that the costs of appeal shall be borne by each party as incurred. This contention is meritorious. A landowner has the constitutional right to be free from costs in any condemnation action seeking to acquire his property rights for public use, including his costs on appeal. (See In re Redevelopment Plan for Bunker Hill (1964) 61 Cal.2d 21, 68-71 [37 Cal.Rptr. 74, 389 P.2d 538], cert. den. 379 U.S. 899 [13 L.Ed.2d 174, 85 S.Ct. 185], app. dism. 379 U.S. 28 [13 L.Ed.2d 173, 85 S.Ct. 190]; and Sacramento Drainage Dist. ex rel. State Rec. Bd. v. Reed (1963) 217 Cal.App.2d 611, 612-613 [31 Cal.Rptr. 754].)