§ 426.70.Applicability to Eminent Domain Proceedings

Section 426.70 is a targeted exception to § 426.60(a)'s exclusion of special proceedings from the compulsory cross-complaint article. Eminent domain proceedings are themselves a special proceeding, but subdivision (a) states that, notwithstanding § 426.60(a), the article applies to eminent domain proceedings anyway.

Subdivision (b) removes a potential procedural obstacle to that application. A party asserting a related cause of action by cross-complaint in an eminent domain proceeding may do so whether or not that party first presented a claim to the plaintiff under the Government Claims Act (Part 3, commencing with § 900, of Division 3.6 of Title 1 of the Government Code) in the original eminent domain proceeding. Ordinarily, claims against a public entity require presenting a government claim first; this subdivision confirms that requirement does not stand in the way of raising a related claim through a cross-complaint once the eminent domain action is already underway.

Together with § 428.10(a)'s bar on cross-complaints against the plaintiff in certain eminent domain actions, § 426.70 shows how the cross-complaint rules single out eminent domain for special treatment throughout this title, reflecting the distinct posture of the government as condemnor in that kind of case.