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In an eminent domain action, in which appellant California Department of Transportation (DOT) took a residential property from respondent owners, the Superior Court of Monterey County (California) found that DOT was liable for precondemnation damages, granted judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the amount of precondemnation damages, and awarded litigation expenses to the owners under Code Civ. Proc., ? 1250.410, subd. (b). DOT sought review. The court held that the owners failed to introduce substantial evidence that they were entitled to recover precondemnation damages. It was undisputed that the decline in their property’s value was caused solely by a market decline, not by DOT, and that DOT’s precondemnation conduct itself did not affect the value of the property during the precondemnation period. Because the owners sought precondemnation damages, not damages for a de facto taking, it was their burden to bear a loss in their property’s value due to a declining market prior to the date of the taking. The court observed that the trial court’s award of litigation expenses was expressly premised on its erroneous belief that DOT was liable for precondemnation damages. As a result, the trial court could not conclude that DOT’s final offer was unreasonable in light of the compensation awarded to the owners. The owners thus could not establish that they were entitled to an award of litigation expenses. The court reversed the judgment and the award of litigation expenses and directed the trial court to enter a new judgment rejecting the owners’ claim for precondemnation damages and to enter a new order denying them litigation expenses.