City and County of San Francisco v. Coyne

In City and County of San Francisco v. Coyne (2008) 168 Cal.App.4th 1515, a developer (Coyne) appealed the trial court's decision not to allow his claim for loss of goodwill to go the jury. The City of San Francisco acquired the property on Lombard Street by eminent domain after Coyne had obtained planning permission to build a nine-unit residential condominium building with ground floor retail space on the site. (Coyne, supra, 168 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1519-1521.) Coyne's expert calculated goodwill based on the profits that would flow from the sale of residential and commercial units to be built on the property. (Id. at p. 1523.) The appellate court rejected the idea that Coyne was entitled to loss of goodwill on that basis because although Coyne had obtained approval for the project, "no building permit had been issued, no construction had begun, . . . and none of the units had been presold or prereleased." (Id. at p. 1524.) Thus, the appellate court concluded that at the time eminent domain proceedings were initiated, "there was no ongoing business devoted to retailing the condominium units to potential customers." (Ibid.)