Timothy J. Ryan

Tim Ryan’s practice is focused on the representation and defense of public entities. Over a career spanning more than 30 years he has successfully handled a variety of lawsuits ranging from real property matters to wrongful death and personal injury roadway design and dangerous condition cases.

Mr. Ryan specializes in inverse condemnation cases, including both physical damage and regulatory taking claims. He is recognized as an expert in earth movement and water damage claims and has participated, at both the trial and appellate levels, in many significant court cases dealing with inverse condemnation law, culminating in a handful of published opinions, most notably including Locklin v. City of Lafayette (1994) 7 Cal.4th 327 [California Supreme Court seminal opinion on modern watercourse drainage law] and more recently, Contra Costa County v. Pinole Point Properties, LLC (2015) 235 C.A.4th 914 [Appellate opinion holding, in a case of first impression, that a downstream riparian owner may be liable for upstream flooding based solely on unreasonable failure to maintain its property].

Mr. Ryan, a life-long resident of Contra Costa County, has spent his entire career practicing in this community representing a mix of local public entities and special districts, including the County of Contra Costa, many local cities and the Blackhawk Geologic Hazard Abatement District. He has lectured to groups on developments in inverse condemnation law and given seminars on relevant legal issues to staff engineers at Contra Costa Public Works Department.

Mr. Ryan received his undergraduate education at Santa Clara University (B.S., 1974) and performed his legal studies at Lincoln Law School (J.D., 1978). He is admitted to practice before all California state and federal courts (Northern District) and a member of the Contra Costa Bar Association.