George C. Fatheree III

LOS ANGELES - To plan and guide the return of Bruce's Beach from L.A. County ownership to the heirs of the Black family that had owned it a century before, George C. Fatheree III had to call on all the skills he had developed as a Sidley real estate partner. Plus, a lot more.

Early last century, the Bruce family operated an oceanside resort for Black families on the property until Manhattan Beach took it away through eminent domain. Returning it to the family from county ownership presented a dozen legal issues Fatheree had never imagined.

"There was no precedent. There was no playbook for this," Fatheree said.

He began the pro bono project by hiring a genealogist to ensure he and his team were representing the rightful heirs.

Another unique question was whether the transfer of the pristine beachfront property was a taxable event. Fatheree decided it was not taxable and should be treated the same as when art stolen by the Nazis is returned to the original owners' family. "Basically, it was the return of found property," he said.

Next, there was the fact that when the state, which had owned the land for a time, gave the beach to the county, it imposed a prohibition against further transfers. Fixing that required passing special legislation, SB 796. Fatheree worked with the author on the bill.

And of course, there was litigation. A lawsuit claimed that giving public property to private individuals violated the state constitution. The Sidley team had anticipated that challenge and had structured the transaction and findings to meet it. The lawsuit was defeated in April.

Rather than hurting the public, Fatheree said, "when the government ... takes reparative actions, that strengthens folks' faith in democracy and strengthens our governmental institutions."

Since the deal closed finally in July, Fatheree has received a constant stream of emails and messages asking for his team's help in similar situations. They can't take on all those cases, but they are working to document the stories, he said. And they may join the opposition to a planned eminent domain taking in another state.

"What was important to me about working on the case was getting it exactly right," he said. "We hoped that if we got this done the first time ... other people would use our process as a model."