Brad Kuhn specializes in real estate and business litigation. He represents property owners, developers, business owners, and public agencies with various aspects of real property and business claims, lease disputes, and other land use and planning issues.
Mr. Kuhn places a particular emphasis in representing clients in connection with eminent domain, inverse condemnation, loss of business goodwill, relocation assistance, precondemnation delay, and right to take challenges. He has worked on some of the largest, multi-million dollar eminent domain cases in Southern California.
Mr. Kuhn is experienced in real estate and business valuation issues, land use entitlement matters, landlord/tenant issues, contract disputes, and other real property and business torts.
He also advises businesses on employment-related matters and construction disputes.
Mr. Kuhn regularly comments on news, events, and policy impacting eminent domain in California on the California Eminent Domain Report blog.
Representative Work
Winchester 700 v. Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority Represented the owner of a 454-acre property in Riverside County that the Regional Conservation Authority (commonly known as the "RCA") had deemed necessary for conservation as part of its Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan. The RCA and the County refused to process Winchester's development entitlements, yet they never made an offer to purchase, instead "de facto" conserving the property. Under threat of an inverse condemnation action, Mr. Kuhn assisted Winchester in an arbitration in which the RCA presented appraisal testimony of a value below $30 million. After completion of the arbitration, the parties reached a settlement by which the RCA paid more than $70 million.
Makar Properties v. City of Huntington Beach Represented developer Makar Properties against the City of Huntington Beach in connection with a dispute regarding the value of Makar's "Pacific City" property. The valuation impacted the park-in-lieu fee Makar was required to pay as part of its development. The parties were nearly $50 million apart in their valuation figures. Mr. Kuhn assisted Makar at binding arbitration where the three judge panel awarded a value exactly at Makar's appraisal testimony. This equated to a $20 million savings in park fees for Makar.
Los Angeles Unified School District v. Meruelo Maddux Properties Represented LAUSD in connection with the condemnation of a vacant, 24-acre industrial property (a former rail yard) for the construction of a new high school. In addition to the condemnation-related issues, the historic use of the property as a rail yard meant that the litigation encompassed myriad unique issues, including issues of contamination, overlapping easements, and undocumented encroachments. After two years of heated litigation, including a court trial on a right-to-take challenge, the matter resolved at a mediation shortly before a scheduled jury trial over the valuation of the property. The settlement, for $50 million, was tens of millions of dollars less than the owner's appraiser's valuation.
Caltrans v. Bayport Imperial Promenade Represented the owners of a Subway, a Golden Spoon, and an Italian restaurant suffering business goodwill losses as a result of Caltrans' Imperial Highway grade separation project. After Caltrans made no offer of compensation, two matters settled at mediation for a total of nearly half-a-million dollars, while one matter proceeded to a jury trial. At trial, Mr. Kuhn assisted in successfully excluding Caltrans' goodwill appraiser, and subsequent to the jury's verdict, Caltrans settled the case by paying a substantial portion of the business' attorneys' fees.
The Metropolitan Water District v. First Industrial Realty Trust Represented First Industrial in a condemnation action brought by the MWD to acquire a portion of a parcel owned by First Industrial. Mr. Kuhn assisted in a negotiated settlement with the MWD paying roughly ten times the amount it originally offered to First Industrial.
Alameda Corridor-East Transportation Authority ("ACE") v. Hartlieb Trust Represented the owner of a commercial property being condemned for a grade separation project. Nossaman filed a separate suit for inverse condemnation due to the project's construction greatly exceeding the interests being condemned. Ultimately, Mr. Kuhn assisted in negotiating a settlement by which ACE agreed to acquire the entire property for $3.55 million, seven times ACE's initial offer for the partial acquisition.
Southern California Edison's Tehachapi Transmission Project. Represented multiple property owners in separate eminent domain actions brought by SCE to acquire easements for a major transmission line. Each matter settled well before trial at a substantial premium over SCE's offer of compensation.