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, ) 4 et al., ) ) 5 Plaintiffs, ) ) 6 v. ) NO. 01-201L ) Judge Victor J. Wolski 7 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) ) 8 Defendant. ) 9 10 11 DEPOSITION UPON ORAL EXAMINATION 12 OF JAMES E. RIDDICK TAKEN ON BEHALF OF THE DEFENDANT 13 14 Virginia Beach, Virginia 15 June 10, 2005 16 17 18 19 Appearances: 20 21 22 23 24 25 SHUTTLEWORTH, RULOFF GIORDANO & SWAIN, P.C. By: STEPHEN C. SWAIN, ESQUIRE Counsel for the Plaintiffs

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00013 1 I'm very sure they might have some planes going over, but I 2 just didn't remember too much if it was bad or what. 3 Q. When is the first time you remember experiencing

4 the jet noise in your home on Loganberry Court? 5 A. I would probably say about '99 -- yes. '99,

6 2000. That's when I really, really noticed it. 7 Q. 8 A. Do you remember about what time in '99? No, I don't. I would say it was warm because we

9 was outside and the planes came across and my grandson came 10 in the house running because the planes were so loud and it 11 scared him and he didn't want to stay outside. 12 Q. 13 A. What did he tell you? He just, noise, noise, noise. And he pointed up

14 into the sky. 15 Q. 16 A. Is that the first time you remember? No. It's not the first time I have heard the

17 planes, but that was the first time it was so loud that it 18 really frightened him, the kids, and you know it was coming 19 over -- the planes were going over before. 20 Q. 21 A. What do you mean before? I mean they was going before, but it didn't

22 affect me as much as it would when it affected the grand 23 kids. 24 Q. 25 A. How old was your grandson? He was probably about 2, 3 at the time.

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Well, sometimes even the whole house shakes.

2 Sometimes the house shakes. Sometimes you're on the 3 telephone, you can't talk. You have to stop talking and 4 wait until the plane goes by, or if you are watching 5 television, you can't hear what they are saying because the 6 noise is so loud until the plane goes by. 7 Q. So even inside your home you have to stop

8 conversations on the telephone? 9 A. 10 Q. Sometimes you do, yes. Can you have a conversation with your wife while

11 the plane is -12 A. Even sometimes talking with my wife, she can't

13 hear because of the planes. It all depends on that 14 particular moment. 15 Q. 16 A. And you have to stop watching TV? Well, you can watch it, but you just can't hear

17 what they are saying, you know. 18 Q. And what do you mean by your house shakes? Can

19 you describe it? 20 A. The house just vibrates. You know, you can feel

21 the house vibrating sometimes when they come across there. 22 I guess they are real low. I don't know. 23 Q. 24 A. Does that happen often? Not often, but it happens. Not every week, not

25 every day, but occasionally it could happen like that.

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00046 1 MR. BRYANT: There better not be. 2 A. Better not be.

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3 BY MS. ACOCK: 4 Q. Have you received your most recent tax assessment

5 for your property? 6 A. 7 Q. I'm pretty sure I did. I'm pretty sure I did. Do you remember what the most recent tax

8 assessment was? 9 A. You know, I couldn't tell you right now, but I'm

10 pretty sure I received it. 11 Q. Do you remember -- you mentioned you can't

12 remember what the amount was. But do you remember whether 13 or not you agreed with the assessment? 14 A. I don't think I ever agree with the city

15 assessment. I don't think I ever agreed with it, because I 16 want my house to cost more than what they say it is. But I 17 guess -- I guess it's pretty close. 18 Q. Going back to 1992, when you moved into the home,

19 or late '92, in November, and you mentioned that planes 20 would fly around your home, can you be more specific? I 21 mean you talked about standing in your front yard and seeing 22 them fly, but do you think they fly directly over your house 23 or -- I'm sorry. Did they fly directly over your house? 24 A. 25 Q. At that particular time? At that time.

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I think they fly over the house sometime now more

2 so than at that particular time. 3 Q. So in late 1992 they flew over your home,

4 directly over your home? 5 A. 6 '92. 7 Q. Okay. If they don't fly directly over your home, No. It was more over my home now than they did in

8 can you be more specific about how they fly a couple of 9 streets over, a couple of blocks over? 10 A. Well, it's hard to say, you know, because they

11 are up like. But it looks like maybe a couple of blocks 12 over to the right or the left, whatever. But I can still 13 see them either way. 14 Q. 15 A. And that's how they flew in '92? They flew more than that. There's more that

16 comes -- seems there's more that comes, seems directly over 17 the house than it was in '92. '92 they were more like to 18 the left or to the right. But now it seems like for some 19 reason more are coming over the top of the house also. 20 Q. 21 A. And so when you say more, you don't mean that -Say if I'm sitting in my back yard like this

22 here, I would see them coming over like this area here, this 23 area here, but now there's more that comes in like directly 24 over the house then. 25 Q. Okay. So I'm going to just describe for

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00048 1 Mrs. Zahn so she can type what you just said. You're saying 2 if you are sitting in your back yard that sometimes -- and 3 I'm trying to remember what you said and describe that? 4 A. 5 Q. 6 A. 7 Q. Okay. So if I summarize -Okay. So sometimes you would say they flew more to the

8 right of your home and more to the left of your home than 9 directly over your home? 10 A. Right. This is in '92 when I first purchased the

11 house in '92, '93. Right. 12 Q. Do you think they fly the same way now in terms

13 of where they fly? Are you saying there are just more of 14 them flying? 15 A. I'm saying there's more of them and more of them

16 come directly over the house now than they did in '92, '93. 17 Q. So it seems to be they are flying in the same

18 pattern, just basically more planes? 19 A. 20 Q. Basically it's more planes and louder planes. All right. When do you think planes started --

21 you mentioned more planes. When do you think more planes 22 started flying? 23 A. I would say everything, the loudness and the

24 planes and everything, is like in '99, 2000, up until the 25 present.

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00051 1 would mitigate noise? 2 A. 3 Q. Not that I know. I don't know.

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Have you done anything to your home that would

4 mitigate noise? 5 A. 6 Q. 7 A. Well, no. I had new windows put in. Why did you have new windows put in? Well, you know, first of all, I did it for the

8 comfort. And they said the windows would keep out some of 9 the noise also. And it would keep the heat in. It would 10 keep the heat from coming in and make your house warmer in 11 the wintertime. 12 Q. 13 A. So that's what you mean by comfort? Right. They said it would make it a little bit

14 more comfortable. You won't be as cold, you won't be as 15 hot, and it eliminates a little bit of the noise. 16 Q. And that, the windows, that is part of the

17 remodeling? 18 A. No. This was just done -- the windows were just

19 done like a couple of months ago. 20 Q. 21 A. 22 Q. 23 A. 24 Q. 25 A. Okay. This is June, so March or April? April, somewhere along in there. And who installed the windows? Window World? I believe it was Window World. Do you remember how much it cost? About $4,000.

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