Over the last several years, we’ve been following an eminent domain case playing out in Mendocino County related to the Skunk Train. In 2023, the court concluded that the Skunk Train operator, Mendocino Railway, did not have the right to take property because it was not proposing to put the property to a public use. In a recent unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeal revisited this conclusion, and addressed whether a railroad corporation qualified as a public utility with the authority to exercise eminent domain, and what evidentiary showing is required to establish public use and …
