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Michael F. Yoshiba is a shareholder in the Litigation Department and the Assistant Chair of the Eminent Domain Department at Richards, Watson & Gershon. Mr. Yoshiba specializes in the area of eminent domain, representing public entities and property owners in both litigation and advisory capacities through all phases of the pre-condemnation and condemnation process. A partial list of his current projects include the following: City of Agoura Hills (public works); City of Yucaipa (public works); City of La Mirada (public works); City of Fairfield (public works); Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority (acquisition).
Before joining the Firm, Mr. Yoshiba represented the State of California, Department of Transportation, Legal Division, for over six years as a Deputy State Attorney and before that, as a right-of-way agent for over ten years. Mr. Yoshiba's experiences include membership on the State Relocation Appeals Board and numerous court and jury eminent domain trials including:
- Defense of Ventura County in a wrongful death and inverse condemnation case involving a landslide (six-week trial in VCSC - no liability to County);
- Inverse condemnation case involving claim for loss of business goodwill (five-day jury trial in LASC);
- Inverse condemnation case involving an owner's claim of precondemnation delay damages (ten-day jury trial in LASC - defense verdict);
- Eminent domain action involving a sports bar's claim of loss of goodwill (seven-day jury trial in OCSC - verdict no loss of goodwill);
- Two eminent domain actions involving claims of reasonable probability of zone change and valuation (eight-day jury trial in SBSC - verdicts below statutory offer); and
- Eminent domain case involving a gas station's claim of loss of business goodwill (five-day bench trial in OCSC - judgment at statutory offer).
Mr. Yoshiba has made presentations on a variety of condemnation, appraisal, acquisition and relocation assistance topics to professional associations. He is a member of the Japanese American Bar Association, the International Right of Way Association and the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He is also an active Board member of the non-profit Asian American Drug Abuse Program, Inc.
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B.S., California State University, Long Beach, 1984
J.D., University of West Los Angeles, 1994
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