Pacific Gas and Electric Co. v. Superior Court of Sutter County

When property acquired by eminent domain is part of a larger parcel compensation must be awarded for the injury, if any, to the remainder (Cal. Const., art. I, § 19; U.S. Const., 5th Amend., Code Civ. Proc., § 1263.410, subd. (a)). Such compensation is commonly called severance damages. When the property taken is but part of a single legal parcel, the property owner need only demonstrate injury to the portion that remains to recover severance damages. The question presented here is whether, and under what circumstances, separate but contiguous legal parcels in common ownership currently devoted to diverse uses may be aggregated to form a "larger parcel" in order to prove entitlement to severance damages.