City of Santa Maria v. V. Alco-Pacific Enters., Inc.

STEPHENS, J. This appeal arises out of an action in eminent domain filed by the City of Santa Maria against the defendants for the purpose of acquiring an easement for the installation of a water transmission line. The original action to acquire this easement was filed by the city on May 8, 1961, in the Superior Court of Santa Barbara County, and the city went into actual possession of the easement on this date. No service was made on defendants in that action, and on March 4, 1965, that action was dismissed; on that same day, a new action, identical to that dismissed, was filed, also in the Superior Court of Santa Barbara County. [479]Summons were issued upon the filing of the new action. On April 6, 1965, defendants filed their answer to the latter complaint, and on April 9, the city filed a demurrer to the answer. On April 14, the defendants moved for a change of venue, and the hearing on the motion for the change of venue was set for April 23, 1965. On April 20, plaintiff filed a reply to that motion, and requested the motion be granted and the venue be ordered changed to San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. The court heard argument on the motion on that day and took the matter under submission. For reasons that do not appear in the record, the Santa Barbara court did not rule on the motion until September 1, 1965; on that date, the motion for a change of venue was granted, and the cause transferred to the Superior Court in San Luis Obispo County. On September 7, 1965, defendants filed a notice of appeal from the order transferring the matter to San Luis Obispo. Realizing that this was a nonappealable order, defendants voluntarily abandoned the appeal on September 30. On November 1, 1965, the city’s demurrer to the answer was heard in the Superior Court of San Luis Obispo County • the demurrer was granted with leave to amend. On November 19, 1965, the defendants filed their amended answer. On November 22, 1965, a memorandum for setting was filed, alleging preference. On November 29, the court placed the cause on the pretrial calendar and assigned it a priority number. On December 20, defendants executed the certificate of readiness and suggested a trial date of June 15, 1966. On December 22, plaintiff sought an earlier trial setting without specificity of date. On December 24, defendants objected to an earlier trial date, but acknowledged that the setting was discretionary. The plaintiff’s request for early setting discussed interest costs due to possession, but made no reference to a valuation date issue. On January 26, plaintiff filed a certificate of readiness and asked again for an early setting. On February 7, the court, on its own motion, set pretrial for March 25, 1966. The pretrial was held, and trial set for October 18, 1966 in Department 1. On March 31, 1966. plaintiff filed his motion for the fixing of date valuation. On April 11, a corrected pretrial conference order was filed setting the motion to fix date of valuation for May 25. On June 3, valuation date was fixed and, as corrected on June 8, was set as of March 4, 1965.