Manhattan Beach Wins Land Dispute Case

After more than three years, Manhattan Beach has emerged the winner in a court battle over a strip of open space that once belonged to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad.

The California Supreme Court ruled last week that land purchased 10 years ago by Manhattan Beach from the railroad for $5 million legally belongs to the city and not to the more than 65 heirs of the Redondo Land Co., a development firm that granted an easement to the railway company in 1888 but not outright ownership.

The heirs maintained the land should have reverted to the land company and not to Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe when the railroad company stopped using it in 1982. The court ruled that the Redondo Land Co., in deeding the property, meant to dispose of any interest in the land.

Originally, Torrance Superior Court Judge William C. Beverly Jr. ruled in the heirs’ favor in December 1992.