Free Response to Cross Motion [Dispositive] - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:01-cv-00201-VJW

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00001 1 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS 2 3 CAROL AND ROBERT TESTWUIDE, ) et al., ) 4 ) Plaintiffs, ) 5 ) v. ) NO. 01-201L 6 ) Judge Victor J. Wolski THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) 7 ) Defendant. ) 8 9 10 DEPOSITION UPON ORAL EXAMINATION 11 OF ROBERT GOODWIN TAKEN ON BEHALF OF THE DEFENDANT 12 13 Virginia Beach, Virginia 14 January 31, 2006 15 16 17 Appearances: 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE By: KELLE S. ACOCK, ESQUIRE And DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY COMMANDER NAVY REGION ATLANTIC By: DOMINICK G. YACONO, ESQUIRE Counsel for the Defendant HOFHEIMER/FERREBEE, P.C. By: JACK E. FERREBEE, ESQUIRE Counsel for the Plaintiffs

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00004 1 question and I'll be glad to rephrase it. 2 As we go along in terms of the questions and 3 answers, if at any point before you respond Mr. Ferrebee 4 will interject, say something for the record, please stop, 5 allow Mr. Ferrebee to go forward, state what he needs to 6 state for the record, and then normally he will just say 7 proceed with the answer. Unless he instructs you otherwise. 8 If at any point in time today you need to stop to 9 use the restroom, get a glass of water, whatever, just let 10 me know and we'll be glad to stop. 11 Mr. Goodwin, could you please state your full 12 name and your current home address for the record? 13 A. Robert Goodwin, 909 Pillow Drive, P-i-l-l-o-w,

14 Virginia Beach, Virginia. 23454-2624. 15 Q. 16 A. 17 Q. And how long have you been at that home address? Approximately 29 years. And what residential neighborhood or subdivision

18 is that home located in? 19 A. 20 Q. Southern Points. And prior to the home -- prior to your residence

21 at the 909 Pillow Drive did you live elsewhere in Virginia 22 Beach? 23 A. 24 Q. 25 A. No. Where was your address prior to that? Bells Farm in Norfolk.

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00005 1 Q. 2 A. 3 Q.

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Do you have any prior military experience? Yes. Can you please state that from the beginning when

4 you signed up? 5 A. Military and civilian, 40 years with the U. S.

6 Navy. 20 years enlisted beginning in 1955, ending in 1973. 7 Q. 8 A. Okay. And then civil service beginning in '73, '74

9 through 1995. About half of it with Naval aviation, and the 10 other half with surface warfare and science and technology. 11 Q. Was your active duty military service -- was that

12 in surface, aviation, sub service? 13 A. 14 Q. 15 A. 16 Q. Half and half. Half and half? Half and half. Explain -- okay. Explain a little bit -- explain

17 your entire military career record? 18 A. Initial duty stations included maintenance

19 operation and instructor duties for tactical aircraft and 20 then for administrative aircraft. And then duties on a type 21 commander staff. And surface warfare experience was at the 22 Navy's then two antisubmarine warfare training centers. 23 Q. 24 A. 25 Q. So that would include both Norfolk and San Diego? That's correct. In terms of your military -- experience with

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00006 1 military aviation, can you explain what platforms you are 2 familiar -- that you were working at that time? 3 A. Very early on, it would have been the AD5N, which

4 was later designated the A1G I believe it was. And the 5 administrative aircraft were T-28s and the SMB, twin engine 6 Beechcraft. 7 Q. Were you ever stationed at the Naval Air Station

8 here at Oceana or down at Chambers Field in Norfolk? 9 A. 10 Q. 11 A. 12 Q. Neither one as a duty station. In what capacity, though? A lieutenant command aboard NAS Norfolk. In terms of the military, the Naval Air Station

13 or air fields, which ones were you stationed at? 14 A. 15 Q. Norfolk and North island. And the training aircraft was at which place?

16 Norfolk and North Island or just one place? 17 A. A1G at North Island. The others were at -- I'm

18 sorry. It was another air station. NAS Anacostia in 19 Washington, D. C. That's where the administrative aircraft 20 were and also Naval Air Facilities Andrews. Same aircraft. 21 Q. When you moved into your current home -- would

22 you say you have been there 30 years approximately? 1975, 23 '76? 24 A. 25 Q. September '76. Tell me about, in terms of why did you -- why did

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00007 1 you pick your current home right now? What were -2 basically what were the factors that attracted you in 3 purchasing that home? 4 A. Number one, it's on a fresh water lake.

5 Another one I had three kids in private school in 6 Norfolk and using that tuition money for a house payment 7 turned out to be a smarter and better idea. Commuting 8 expenses and all, it was an additional $50 a month expense 9 to me. 10 Q. 11 A. Anything else attracted you to that area? It was quiet, peaceful, located on a two-lane pig

12 track called Great Neck Road, which has changed quite a bit 13 since then. 14 Q. At the time were you married when you purchased

15 the home? 16 A. 17 Q. Yes. Was it a joint decision to purchase that home

18 between you and your wife? 19 A. 20 Q. Yes, it was. Did your wife have -- according to the best of

21 your knowledge, did your wife have any other factors that 22 attracted her to the home, or pretty much the same you did? 23 A. Pretty much the same.

24 Good schools -- better schools was another. 25 Q. You mentioned private schools. So in terms of

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00009 1 A. 2 Q. Say that again.

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Going back to the '75, '76 time frame, can you

3 recall whether or not you experienced or heard military 4 aviation jets? 5 A. 6 Q. 7 A. 8 Q. Yes. Noise? Yes. When -- prior to purchasing the home, did you

9 hear the noise from military aviation jets, or was it after 10 you had moved in? Can you recall, was it -11 A. It would have been before. We were a frequent

12 visitor to Oceana. 13 Q. Now, in terms of your personal daily living

14 experience at that home and with relationship to the noise 15 generated by military aircraft, going back to the '76 time 16 frame -- and I'll leave it up to you to determine when it, 17 in your mind, it changed. Describe in terms of what you 18 experience, in terms of your daily life experiences in terms 19 of the impact of military jet noise back then starting in 20 the '76 time frame whenever you believe it changed? 21 A. Back in the '76 time frame, occasional

22 disruptions, if you will, caused predominantly, during 23 carrier qualifications, CYCLOP operations, telephone 24 conversations difficult to hear. Television difficult to 25 watch. Not only because of the sound but also we didn't

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I mean, in other words, let's say, let's take,

2 you know, I can go back to the early '80s, when -- early 3 '80s with conflicts, potential conflicts with Libya, and go, 4 you know, to early 1991 with the first Gulf war, and then 5 with the second Gulf war, would you say that the intensity 6 of what you experienced in terms of the noise at your 7 home -- would you say that it increased during those 8 geopolitical events or pretty much always been the same no 9 matter what? 10 A. I would have to kind of guess at that. But I

11 would say it's been fairly constant throughout the years. 12 Q. 13 A. Okay. Or if not constant at least averaged out. I

14 don't know if I'm saying two different things there or not. 15 Q. Okay. You mentioned earlier that back in the '76

16 time frame, your experience in terms of your daily life 17 experience at home in terms of phone conversations, watching 18 television -- in terms of sleeping, were you ever disturbed 19 from sleep, routed out of your sleep? 20 A. In the early years I would say occasionally.

21 Nice cool night, windows open, hard to sleep. 22 Q. With the introduction of the F-14s in the '70s,

23 did that change pretty much or was it pretty much the same? 24 A. I closed the windows and turned on the air

25 conditioning.

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00015 1 Mr. Goodwin is marking -- has marked an X at the approximate 2 location of his home and has placed the letter A right next 3 to it. 4 BY COMMANDER YACONO: 5 Q. So in terms of -- now, in terms of what I asked

6 you earlier in terms of other flights directly overhead, or 7 in relation to Oceana or to the sides, how would you 8 describe what you experienced at that home in terms of -9 A. 10 Q. 11 A. 12 Q. Where the flights are? Yes. From your home? They are coming here, here, and here. Are you experiencing some direct overflights over

13 your home? 14 A. 15 Q. 16 A. Yes, occasionally. And has that changed over the 30 years at all? No. I don't think so. Not the best of my

17 recollection. 18 Q. Have you ever seen an Air Installation Compatible

19 Use Zone Map before? 20 A. 21 Q. Yes. Specifically -- well, can you tell me when was

22 the first time you ever looked at it? 23 A. I spent 13 1/2 years on the COMNAVAIRLANT staff.

24 I saw the first one when we made it. 25 Q. Okay. That would be when? Do you recall

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Do you -- it's your personal opinion that the jet

2 noise from the operations of the F-18 Hornets Cs and Ds, has 3 had an impact on the value of your current home? 4 A. 5 Q. 6 A. I believe so. Can you explain why? Sure.

7 Toward the end of the C and D deliveries and 8 probably the beginning of the E/F deliveries, I found the 9 noise objectionable enough to replace all the windows in my 10 house. I feel that had I not done so I would not have been 11 able to continue to enjoy my house as much, and I'm not sure 12 that I would be able to receive the same price for it in a 13 sale. 14 Q. You replaced the windows of your home -- do you

15 recall what year did you do that? 16 A. Yes. Exactly what year. 2002 is when I finished

17 the project. I started in 2000, 2001, and finished in 2002. 18 Q. Do you believe then the replacement of the

19 windows has helped, somehow dampened the impact of the 20 noise? 21 A. 22 Q. 23 A. 24 Q. Oh, yes. You do believe that? Yes. Can you describe what kind of windows you had

25 installed?

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00029 1 recorded any -- have you taken or recorded any pictures or 2 images of Naval aircraft flying in or around your home? 3 A. 4 Q. No. Have you kept a logbook or anything else, a

5 logbook or some type of personal log or diary in terms of 6 recording times of maybe flight operations, anything else 7 like that? 8 A. 9 Q. The answer is no. I notice that with the -- that you have listed

10 down a Goodwin Associates LLC with the State Corporation 11 Commission. Can you tell me what type of business that is? 12 A. 13 Q. 14 A. It is no longer in existence. What type of business was it? Consulting. Marketing military systems in Latin

15 America. 16 Q. Now, again, this is again to the best of your

17 knowledge. In terms of the noise impacts generated from the 18 engines let's say on the A-6, the F-4, the F-14 and the F-18 19 Cs and Ds, and then the F-18 Es and Fs, can you rank them in 20 order in terms of noise impacts generated, or how loud they 21 are? 22 A. The best of my recollection is probably the A-6

23 the least, F-4 being greater, and afterburner much greater. 24 And then the F/A-18 C/D, and then the E/F. 25 Q. Where does the F-14 fall in there?

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