DocketNumber: No. 728-71
Citation Numbers: 206 Ct. Cl. 828
Filed Date: 1/17/1975
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 11/23/2022
Enwnent domain; taking; temporary avigation easement; just compensation; litigation expenses.—On October 17, 1973 (202 Ct. Cl. 1020, 485 F. 2d 643) the court held that there was a temporary taking of an avigation easement in the airspace above plaintiffs’ tract of land by flights of Government-owned helicopters at an altitude of 250 feet above the surface of the ground, and higher, and that the easement terminated on March 22, 1972. The case was remanded to the trial judge to determine the amount of plaintiffs’ recovery. After a trial for reception of evidence respecting the value of the temporary easement, Trial Judge Mastín G. White in a recommended decision filed April 9, 1974 concluded that, from the evidence presented on the issue of liability at the first trial, the tract was less desirable for agricultural rental purposes during the existence of the easement than before and that the rental value for agricultural use during such period was necessarily decreased thereby to some extent. However, there is no basis in the record for an inference that the rental value of the pine woodland or the hardwood swamp in the tract was decreased during the existence of the easement. Trial Judge White concluded that plaintiffs are entitled to