What is the difference between the value of destroyed property and the cost of repairing it?

1 Even if appellant were to be awarded the diminution in value rather than the cost of repair, his claim comes too late. It is settled that the loss in value of destroyed property is measured as the difference between the value immediately before the tort and the value immediately after. (Ferraro v. Southern Cal. Gas Co., supra, 102 Cal.App.3d 33, 50, 162 Cal.Rptr. 238). Appellant's claim that he was "unable to sell" the property during the period between the fire and the completion of the repairs unjustifiably assumes the damaged property could not be sold. No reason appears why he could not have sold the property immediately at a reduced price and recovered from the insurer the difference between what he received and the market value. The difference in value would presumably have approximated the cost of repairs.

2 It is not always clear whether a judicial reference to decline in market value means a decline which is actually the result of the defendant's negligence or of a general decline in market value of property. Slander of title can diminish the value of property independently of market forces, since a property whose title is not clear is still saleable, though at a discount for the risk entailed. One case in which it is clear that the court is talking about a general market decline during a period of attachment is Heath v. Lent (1851) 1 Cal. 410, which rejected plaintiff's contention that the difference in value be awarded: "All the testimony in regard to the depreciation of real estate during the time when the attachment was in existence ... ought not to have been submitted to the jury. Such injuries are too remote, and cannot be the immediate result of an attachment upon real estate, of which the possession is not taken on the writ." (Id., at p. 412.) (It is not clear that the plaintiff in Heath had wished to sell the property, however.)