2009 California Code of Civil Procedure - Section 751.50-751.65 :: Chapter 3.6. Cullen Earthquake Act

751.50.  If the boundaries of land owned either by public or by
private entities have been disturbed by earth movements such as, but
not limited to, slides, subsidence, lateral or vertical displacements
or similar disasters caused by man, or by earthquake or other acts
of God, so that such lands are in a location different from that at
which they were located prior to the disaster, an action in rem may
be brought to equitably reestablish boundaries and to quiet title to
land within the boundaries so reestablished.

751.51.  (a) An action authorized by this chapter may be commenced
by:
   (1) A county in which lands were affected by a disaster described
in Section 751.50 with or without the joinder of a city or cities
included in the county and within the area so affected.
   (2) A city, if the disaster has affected land in the city.
   (3) Any other entity or person owning or having an interest in or
lien upon land affected by the disaster if granted permission by the
court to bring the action, and if the county in which the land is
located is made a party to the action.
   (b) In an action authorized by this chapter every entity in actual
and peaceable possession of, or having an estate or interest in or
lien upon any of the land affected by the action, whose possession or
evidence of estate or interest is either recorded or known to the
plaintiffs, the city, if the land is within a city, the county in
which the land is located, and the State of California must be
designated in the complaint of the action, and given notice in the
manner required by this chapter.
   (c) All unknown entities, including owners, lien or interest
claimants, heirs, devisees, legatees or assigns, may be described in
the caption and complaint as "all entities claiming any interest in
or lien upon, the real property herein described or any part of it."

751.52.  An entity which is a permissive plaintiff under this
chapter, may bring a separate action with respect to separate
portions of the disaster area of sufficient size to equitably
reestablish boundaries without harm to other areas of the common
disaster, its decision regarding the desirability of the separate
action, and regarding the area to be dealt with in each action to be
approved by the court.

751.53.  The complaint shall substantially include:
   (a) A statement of the facts which make the provisions of this
chapter applicable.
   (b) A description of the exterior boundaries of the real property
area sought to be affected by the action.
   (c) A specification of the estate, title, interest or claim owned,
and in the actual possession of the plaintiff or plaintiffs in
described parts of the entire real property sought to be affected by
the action.
   (d) A specification of the estate, title, interest, or claim, so
far as they are known to the plaintiffs or either of them, and so far
as they are capable of being discovered by reasonably diligent
search by the plaintiff or plaintiffs, in each separate part of the
entire real property sought to be affected by the action.
   (e) A specification of the street areas sought to be vacated or
offered by the plaintiff, or plaintiffs, to be vacated in whole or in
part for judicial equitable allocation to landowners for the
mitigation of the losses inflicted upon the landowners by the
particular disaster or disasters to which this chapter is applicable.
   (f) A proposed replatting of the entire real property sought to be
affected by the action, embodying the land boundaries as fixed by
the disaster, except as these boundaries have been equitably and
judicially readjusted, or as liberalized by judicially directed use
of the vacated lands.

751.54.  Summons, publication of notice, posting and related matters
and procedures shall be governed by the provisions of Sections
751.05 through 751.10, inclusive, of the Code of Civil Procedure.

751.55.  Upon the completion of the service, publication and posting
of the summons, as may be required by this chapter, the court has
complete jurisdiction over the parties plaintiff or plaintiffs and
the entire real property described in the complaint as intended to be
affected by the action, and over every entity having or claiming an
estate, right, title or interest in or to, or lien upon, all or any
part of the property, and shall be considered to have obtained the
possession and control of the property for the purposes of the action
with complete jurisdiction to render the judgment provided for in
this chapter.

751.56.  (a) An answer to the complaint must be served within 90
days after the first publication of the notice, or such further time
not exceeding 30 days, as the court for good cause may grant.
   (b) An answer must:
   (1) Specifically set out the particulars in which the claimant's
estate, right, title, or interest in or to, or lien upon all or any
part of the property is different from, or greater than, the interest
of the claimant as it is described in the complaint.
   (2) Be confined to rights based on events occurring at the time
of, or since the time of the disaster.
   (c) To whatever extent, if at all, the answering party has rights
against anyone whatsoever, based upon facts or events which occurred
before the disaster, the claims shall remain unaffected by the action
brought under this chapter and shall be assertable subsequent to the
conclusion of the action at any time and in any manner permitted by
law, notwithstanding the judgment granted in this action, recognizing
however the finality of this judgment as to the consequences, with
respect to land boundaries as applicable to land in the disaster
area.

751.57.  A party to an action authorized by this chapter may file a
notice of the pendency of the action in the form and at the place and
with the effects specified by law.

751.58.  The vacating of streets, highways or other public ways
within or abutting the area affected by the disaster, in whole or in
part, by the voluntary action of the governmental agency under whose
jurisdiction the streets, highways, or ways are vested, for the
purpose of making it possible for the court to mitigate the hardships
suffered by entities because of the change in land boundaries caused
by the disaster can be accomplished by the affected governmental
agency expressing the offer in the proceedings followed by the court'
s acceptance thereof in an action authorized by this chapter, without
complying with any other formalities of law.

751.59.  In an action of the type authorized by this chapter,
judgment shall not be given by default, but the court must require
proof of the facts alleged in the complaint and other pleadings.

751.60.  The judgment shall:
   (a) Determine the land boundaries of each parcel of land located
within the entire area of real property sought to be affected by the
action, whether owned publicly or privately, as fixed by the
disaster, except as these boundaries have been judicially and
equitably readjusted and as liberalized by judicial equitable
allocation of lands voluntarily vacated by a city, county or the
state under this act.
   (b) Determine the entity or entities having estates, rights,
titles, interests and claims in and to each parcel, whether legal or
equitable, present or future, vested or contingent, or whether they
consist of mortgages or liens of any description.
   (c) Approve and direct the proper filing of an official map
covering the entire area of real property sought to be affected by
the action, as a substitute for the plat maps previously filed, but
rendered inaccurate by the disaster.

751.61.  In reaching the conclusions called for by Section 751.60,
the court shall give effect to the changes in land boundaries caused
by the disaster, mitigated, however, so far as can equitably be done
by adjustment of land boundaries and by allocating to contiguous lots
parts of the land released by a city, county or the state by its
voluntary vacation of areas formerly constituting public ways, which
vacatings of streets shall be approved by the judgment.

751.62.  The judgment shall be conclusive with respect to land
boundaries upon every entity who at the commencement of the action
had or claimed an estate, right, title or interest in or to or lien
upon a part of the entire area of real property described in the
complaint as intended to be affected by the action, and upon every
entity claiming under any such person by title subsequent to the
commencement of the action.

751.63.  A certified copy of the judgment shall be recorded, at the
expense of the plaintiff or plaintiffs in the action, in the office
of the recorder of the county in which the affected land is situated
and shall constitute constructive notice of the findings therein and
of the official plat or plats referred to therein, which findings and
plats shall supersede and control all prior plats, maps and
documents to the extent inconsistent therewith.

751.64.  The remedies provided for by this chapter are cumulative
and in addition to any other remedy provided by law for quieting or
establishing title to real property or the boundaries of it.

751.65.  This chapter may be cited as the Cullen Earthquake Act.