City of Los Angeles v. Gage
Court of Appeal for the Second District of California
274 P.2d 34 (1954)
Gage (defendant) operated a plumbing business in a Los Angeles (plaintiff) district that was later rezoned to forbid commercial uses, with an ordinance giving nonconforming businesses like Gage's until the later of five years after becoming nonconforming or June 1, 1946 to cease operations. Commercially zoned property existed within half a mile of Gage's business, and the cost of moving was less than one percent of his five-year minimum gross business. The trial court found Gage's use had become vested and that enforcing the ordinance would be an unconstitutional taking without due process; the city appealed.
Whether the reasonable amortization of nonconforming uses of private property is a constitutional exercise of a municipality's police power.