(a) At any time after the filing of the complaint and before the expiration of 30 days after final judgment, the plaintiff may wholly or partially abandon the proceeding by serving on the defendant and filing in court a written notice of such abandonment.
§ 1268.510.Notice of Abandonment; Setting Abandonment Aside; Dismissal of Proceeding
Title 7. Eminent Domain Law · Chapter 11. Postjudgment Procedure · Article 6. Abandonment · Enacted 1975 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 29, 2026
In one sentenceSection 1268.510 lets the plaintiff wholly or partly abandon an eminent domain proceeding by filing and serving written notice any time after the complaint but before 30 days after final judgment, subject to the court setting the abandonment aside on detrimental-reliance grounds and then dismissing the proceeding.
Full Text of § 1268.510
(b) The court may, upon motion made within 30 days after the filing of such notice, set the abandonment aside if it determines that the position of the moving party has been substantially changed to his detriment in justifiable reliance upon the proceeding and such party cannot be restored to substantially the same position as if the proceeding had not been commenced.
(c) Upon denial of a motion to set aside such abandonment or, if no such motion is filed, upon the expiration of the time for filing such a motion, the court shall, on motion of any party, enter judgment wholly or partially dismissing the proceeding.
Plain-English Summary
Public projects change or fall through, and this section gives the condemning agency an exit ramp even after a case has been filed, and in some circumstances even after judgment. The agency can abandon the proceeding, in whole or in part, by serving the defendant and filing in court a written notice of abandonment, any time from the filing of the complaint up until 30 days after final judgment.
Abandonment isn't automatically final. Within 30 days after the notice is filed, any party can move to have the abandonment set aside, and the court will grant that motion if it finds the moving party's position has substantially changed to its detriment in justified reliance on the proceeding, in a way that can't be undone by restoring the party to roughly where it stood before the case began. That protects a defendant who, say, arranged to relocate a business in reliance on the taking, only to have the agency walk away at the last minute.
If no motion to set aside is filed, or if one is filed and denied, the court -- on any party's motion -- enters judgment dismissing the proceeding, wholly or partly, consistent with the scope of the abandonment. That dismissal is what triggers the litigation-expense-shifting rules in the next article.
Frequently Asked Questions
How late can the agency abandon an eminent domain proceeding?
Any time after the complaint is filed and before the expiration of 30 days after final judgment.
How does the agency abandon the proceeding?
By serving the defendant with, and filing in court, a written notice of abandonment.
Can a defendant stop the abandonment from taking effect?
Yes, by moving within 30 days after the notice is filed to set it aside, if the defendant's position has substantially and irreversibly changed to its detriment in justified reliance on the proceeding.
What happens once the abandonment isn't set aside?
The court, on any party's motion, enters judgment wholly or partly dismissing the proceeding.
What follows a dismissal based on abandonment?
It can trigger the defendant's right to litigation expenses under § 1268.610, which applies whenever a proceeding is wholly or partly dismissed.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1975, Ch. 1275.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 29, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: abandonment eminent domain californianotice of abandonment condemnation proceeding