Subsequent Events	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Subsequent Events [Abstract]
Subsequent Events	Subsequent Events Termination of PICO’s CEO and Other Related Changes in Executive Management: On October 10, 2016, John R. Hart’s employment as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company was terminated, effective as of October 12, 2016. Mr. Hart will receive the severance benefits set forth in Section 4(b) of his Amended and Restated Employment Agreement with the Company, dated March 11, 2016 and filed with the SEC on March 14, 2016 (the “Employment Agreement”). Such benefits include certain severance and vacation differential payments totaling approximately $10.4 million, certain medical benefits, and immediate vesting of the outstanding RSU and Performance Based Options (“PBO”) previously granted. Mr. Hart was also entitled to the balance of his accrued vacation and personal days valued at $339,000 which was paid to him in October 2016. The Company will accrue the $10.4 million in severance benefits and vacation differential, remaining stock-based compensation, and related expenses in the fourth quarter of 2016. In accordance with applicable regulations, payment of the severance benefits and vacation differential, stock settlement of the vested RSU, and distribution of Mr. Hart’s deferred compensation balance, will be made to Mr. Hart no earlier than six months and a day after the effective date of the termination. In connection with Mr. Hart’s termination, the Company’s board of directors appointed Maxim C.W. Webb as President and Chief Executive Officer and to serve as a class III director of the Company, effective as of October 12, 2016, with a term that expires at the Company’s 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, and John T. Perri as Chief Financial Officer. Additionally, each of Mr. Webb and Mr. Perri irrevocably and unconditionally waived their right to receive any bonus payment that would otherwise be payable pursuant to the terms of the Company’s executive bonus plan. Mr. Hart currently continues to serve as a member of the board of directors of the Company and UCP. However, in October 2016, the Company filed a consent solicitation statement seeking written consents of the shareholders of the Company to remove Mr. Hart as a director of the Company. Asset Sales: In August 2016, the Company entered into a purchase and sale agreement to sell the majority of the assets used in its oil and gas operations effective October 1, 2016 for gross proceeds of $10.2 million. After consideration of liabilities assumed by the buyer and escrow holdback of approximately $587,000 for lease title defects that the Company has the right to cure within one year of the date of sale, cash proceeds to the Company were $9.2 million. The purchase and sale agreement provides for a Company guarantee of $1 million for any indemnification claims made by the buyer within one year of the sale. As the carrying value of the assets sold was reduced significantly in prior periods due to impairment losses and depletion charges, the Company will record a gain on sale before income taxes of $8.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2016 that will be reported within the Company’s corporate segment results. In October 2016, the Company completed a sale of 32 acres of real estate in Fresno, California for cash of $3.4 million. The transaction did not result in any gain or loss as the real estate was previously written down to the estimated sale price during the year ended December 31, 2015, which is further discussed in Note 2 “Real Estate and Tangible Water Assets.”

Subsequent Events

Termination of PICO’s CEO and Other Related Changes in Executive Management:

On October 10, 2016, John R. Hart’s employment as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company was terminated, effective as of October 12, 2016.

Mr. Hart will receive the severance benefits set forth in Section 4(b) of his Amended and Restated Employment Agreement with the Company, dated March 11, 2016 and filed with the SEC on March 14, 2016 (the “Employment Agreement”). Such benefits include certain severance and vacation differential payments totaling approximately $10.4 million, certain medical benefits, and immediate vesting of the outstanding RSU and Performance Based Options (“PBO”) previously granted. Mr. Hart was also entitled to the balance of his accrued vacation and personal days valued at $339,000 which was paid to him in October 2016.

The Company will accrue the $10.4 million in severance benefits and vacation differential, remaining stock-based compensation, and related expenses in the fourth quarter of 2016. In accordance with applicable regulations, payment of the severance benefits and vacation differential, stock settlement of the vested RSU, and distribution of Mr. Hart’s deferred compensation balance, will be made to Mr. Hart no earlier than six months and a day after the effective date of the termination.

In connection with Mr. Hart’s termination, the Company’s board of directors appointed Maxim C.W. Webb as President and Chief Executive Officer and to serve as a class III director of the Company, effective as of October 12, 2016, with a term that expires at the Company’s 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, and John T. Perri as Chief Financial Officer. Additionally, each of Mr. Webb and Mr. Perri irrevocably and unconditionally waived their right to receive any bonus payment that would otherwise be payable pursuant to the terms of the Company’s executive bonus plan.

Mr. Hart currently continues to serve as a member of the board of directors of the Company and UCP. However, in October 2016, the Company filed a consent solicitation statement seeking written consents of the shareholders of the Company to remove Mr. Hart as a director of the Company.

Asset Sales:

In August 2016, the Company entered into a purchase and sale agreement to sell the majority of the assets used in its oil and gas operations effective October 1, 2016 for gross proceeds of $10.2 million. After consideration of liabilities assumed by the buyer and escrow holdback of approximately $587,000 for lease title defects that the Company has the right to cure within one year of the date of sale, cash proceeds to the Company were $9.2 million. The purchase and sale agreement provides for a Company guarantee of $1 million for any indemnification claims made by the buyer within one year of the sale. As the carrying value of the assets sold was reduced significantly in prior periods due to impairment losses and depletion charges, the Company will record a gain on sale before income taxes of $8.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2016 that will be reported within the Company’s corporate segment results.

In October 2016, the Company completed a sale of 32 acres of real estate in Fresno, California for cash of $3.4 million. The transaction did not result in any gain or loss as the real estate was previously written down to the estimated sale price during the year ended December 31, 2015, which is further discussed in Note 2 “Real Estate and Tangible Water Assets.”