§ 1263.240.Improvement Made Subsequent to Date of Service of Summons

Serving the summons is a warning shot: once a defendant knows a condemnation case has started, this section discourages building new improvements just to inflate the compensation bill. Improvements pertaining to the realty made after service of summons are generally left out of the compensation calculation.

Three exceptions let a post-summons improvement still count. The improvement can be one a public utility is required to make to its own utility system -- infrastructure obligations that don't stop just because a condemnation case is pending. It can be one the plaintiff consented to in writing, since the plaintiff can hardly complain about an improvement it agreed to. Or it can be one a court authorizes after a noticed hearing, where the court weighs the hardship to the defendant of forbidding the improvement against the hardship to the plaintiff of allowing it.

Even when a court authorizes the improvement under that third path, it isn't required to count the full value. The same order that permits the improvement can also cap how much of it factors into the compensation determination -- letting the defendant build without guaranteeing a windfall at the plaintiff's expense.