LINDA VAIZBURD and ARKADY VAIZBURD v. United States

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
03-5154
LINDA VAIZBURD and ARKADY VAIZBURD,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
UNITED STATES,
Defendant-Appellee.
Roger J. Marzulla, Defenders of Property Rights, of Washington, DC, argued for
plaintiffs-appellants. With him on the brief was Nancie G. Marzulla.
Kathryn E. Kovacs, Appellate Section, Environment and Natural Resources
Division, United States Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, argued for
defendant-appellee. With her on the brief were Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant
Attorney General; and Richard A. Barrett.
Appealed from: United States Court of Federal Claims
Senior Judge Eric Bruggink

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United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
03-5154
LINDA VAIZBURD and ARKADY VAIZBURD,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
UNITED STATES,
Defendant-Appellee.
___________________________
DECIDED: October 1, 2004
___________________________
Before RADER, Circuit Judge, FRIEDMAN, Senior Circuit Judge, and DYK, Circuit
Judge.
Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge DYK. Opinion dissenting in part filed by
Senior Circuit Judge FRIEDMAN.
DYK, Circuit Judge.
The appellants, Linda and Arkady Vaizburd (“the Vaizburds”), seek
compensation for a physical taking of an easement. The Court of Federal Claims
concluded that the government’s sand deposit on the Vaizburds’ property constituted
the physical taking of a permanent easement, but it denied recovery on the ground that
the Vaizburds failed to establish any decline in the fair market value of their property.
Vaizburd v. United States, 57 Fed. Cl. 221 (2003). We agree with the Court of Federal
Claims that the Vaizburds have not established that they are entitled to recover
compensation for a decline in the market value of their property. However, we vacate
the Court of Federal Claims’ decision and remand for further consideration of the
Vaizburds’ claim that they are entitled to recover on a cost of cure theory.

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BACKGROUND
The Sea Gate Community (“Sea Gate”) is a gated community on the southern
side of Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York that includes seaside homes facing a
private beach. The Vaizburds purchased their waterfront home on Oceanview Avenue
in the Sea Gate Community for $320,000 in 1989. As part of the purchase, the
Vaizburds acquired a seaward lot in the back of their home. This lot was completely
submerged at the time of purchase. The Vaizburds’ home is referred to as Lot-3 and
the submerged lot is Lot-103.
In the early 1990s the Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”) launched a project
to replenish sand on Coney Island beaches (the “Coney Island project”), which had
severely eroded over the years. By 1995, when the initial stage of the Coney Island
project was completed, the Corps had deposited approximately three million cubic yards
of sand on the Coney Island beaches. Meanwhile, since the mid 1990s, Oceanview
Avenue lots in Sea Gate, including the Vaizburds’ Lot-3 and Lot-103, experienced sand
accretion. It is uncontested that this sand accretion was caused by the Coney Island
project and that sand simultaneously diminished from the beach as it accumulated on
the Oceanview Avenue lots. Oceanview Avenue residents affected by this sand
accretion repeatedly complained to the Corps. By 2000, the Vaizburds’ previously
submerged property was covered in sand, forming a beach of sorts, and sand had also
accumulated on Lot-3. On March 20, 2000, the Vaizburds brought suit in the Court of
Federal Claims, alleging that the accumulation of sand resulting from the Coney Island
project constituted a compensable taking of easements on Lot-3 and Lot-103 and
seeking $20,000,000 in damages.

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After trial, the Court of Federal Claims concluded that a taking had occurred.
The court found that “[t]here [was] no question that the result of the Corps’ actions [was]
the continuing presence of sand on the plaintiffs’ property”; that “[i]t [was] the inevitable
and recurring result of official government action in maintaining the Coney Island
beaches”; and that “[t]he Corps ha[d] imposed an easement for the deposition of sand
onto both lots 103 and 3.” Vaizburd, 57 Fed. Cl. at 228. The court also found that sand
accretion on the Vaizburds’ property was “unattractive” and that the Vaizburds “have
paid to have sand removed at least once from their backyard.” Id. at 226.
Despite the Court of Federal Claims’ conclusion that the Vaizburds “satisfied
every element of a claim for the taking of an easement to deposit sand,” id. at 233, it
denied takings compensation because “there [was] no apparent damage” to the
Vaizburds’ property. Id. The court held that the Vaizburds were required to show actual
damages because nominal damages were not available as “the waiver of sovereign
immunity [for takings claims under the Tucker Act] does not extend to nominal or
exemplary damages.” Id. The court concluded that the Vaizburds “failed . . . to prove
that the presence of this sand has diminished the value of their property” and that “[t]hey
cannot, therefore, prove a compensable taking.” Id.
Indispensable to a market value analysis is a determination of the date of the
taking. The court recognized that “[t]he date of taking is problematic in this case
because the erosion and deposition were a gradual process with cumulative effects of
varying magnitude.” Id. at 230. The court rejected both the Vaizburds’ dates (a before-
date of September 1995 and an after-date of October 1995) and the government’s
dates (a before-date of April 1996, and an after-date of June 1998, assuming a taking

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sometime in the interim), setting the date instead at December 31, 1995, when “the
process of accretion had sufficient impact, i.e., impeded the plaintiffs’ access to the
water, and was sufficiently noticeable and recurring to constitute a taking.” Id.
The parties agreed on the after-value of the Vaizburds’ property and differed
simply as to the before-value.1 Id. at 231. The Vaizburds’ appraisal, prepared by Mr.
Vaizburd himself, valued the property at $16,229,520 before the taking. Id. The Court
of Federal Claims rejected this appraisal, explaining that this figure represented an
“exaggerated view of the value” of the property (purchased only six years earlier for
$320,000) and was based exclusively on a comparison of two other homes that were
not “comparable” properties. Id. These other homes were in different neighborhoods of
Brooklyn and were “superior” properties. Id. The court then considered the
government’s valuation, concluding that it was properly based on comparable house
sales in the Sea Gate community.2 Id. at 232. The government appraiser concluded
that “[t]he before and after values were both $315,000.” Id. The court explained that
“the only possible relevant line of attack” against the government’s appraisal was that
the “after values were not as high as they would have been, but for the taking.” Id. at
233. The court, however, noted that this argument was “not advanced by the plaintiffs,
1 The Vaizburds accepted the government’s initial after-value calculation of
$320,000. During the course of the trial, the Court of Federal Claims chose a date of
taking different than the government appraiser’s date. On the instruction of the court,
the government appraiser re-calculated the before- and after-values to comport with the
court’s choice of the takings date, resulting in both a before- and an after-value of
$315,000, as noted in the text. On appeal, the Vaizburds challenge the government’s
before-value, but do not contest the after-value, the revised and lower after-value being
slightly more favorable to their claim.
2 The government appraiser considered four comparable sales from
February 1992-December 1995, including at least two homes on Oceanview Avenue
with “water up to the bulkhead,” namely a submerged back lot.

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and, in any event, there [was] no evidence to support it.” Id. at 233. Accepting the
government’s appraisal as based on a proper comparison of “the best comparable[ ] . . .
house sales along Oceanview Avenue,” id. at 232, the court held that the Vaizburds
had not proven that the market value of their property diminished as a result of sand
accretion.
Finally, the court refused to award compensation based on a cost of cure
approach, i.e., it declined to award the costs of sand removal. The court stated:
We do not have sufficient evidence from which to fashion a remedy from
the costs related to sand removal: Costs to cure and other elements
resultant from the taking are only admissible on the issue of just
compensation if they are tied to their effect upon fair market value.
Normally they would not be independent elements of compensation, in
other words, unless it can be shown that the reduced after value assumes
some continuing mitigation cost.
Id. at 233 n.9 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). This passage is unclear
as to whether the court held either: (1) that as a legal matter cost of cure is only
relevant to the extent that it affects the overall market value of the taken property; or (2)
that the Vaizburds failed to supply sufficient evidence of cost of cure to support
compensation under such a theory.
The court summarized the implications of its decision as follows: “This means
only that the plaintiffs cannot recover on these or any other identical facts. This also
means, however, that the government does not own an easement. At a minimum, this
suggests that, if the facts change, a new claim would not be barred.” Id. at 233 n.12.
The Vaizburds filed a motion for reconsideration, which was denied on July 28,
2003. The Vaizburds timely appealed, and we have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C.
§ 1295(a)(3).

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DISCUSSION
We review the Court of Federal Claims’ legal conclusions without deference, and
we review the court's factual findings for clear error. Ferreiro v. United States, 350 F.3d
1318, 1324 (Fed. Cir. 2003).
I
Government action that causes sand accretion, flooding, or accumulation of other
materials on a landowner’s property may constitute a physical taking. See, e.g.,
Pumpelly v. Green Bay & Miss. Canal Co., 80 U.S. (13 Wall) 166, 181 (1871).3
However, “[n]ot every ‘invasion’ of private property resulting from government activity
amounts to an appropriation” that is compensable as a taking. Ridge Line, Inc. v.
3 See also United States v. Kan. City Life Ins. Co., 339 U.S. 799 (1950)
(landowner’s property flooded due to the government’s act of raising the level of a
stream for navigational purposes); United States v. Dickinson, 331 U.S. 745 (1947)
(landowner’s property flooded due to government’s act of raising level of river); United
States v. Cress, 243 U.S. 316 (1917) (landowner’s property flooded by overflow caused
by government’s dam project); United States v. Welch, 217 U.S. 333 (1910)
(landowner’s property flooded due to government’s dam); United States v. Lynah, 188
U.S. 445 (1903) (landowner’s property flooded due to government’s construction of
dam); Pumpelly, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) at 166 (landowner’s property flooded due to
government construction of a dam); see also Ridge Line, Inc. v. United States, 346 F.3d
1346 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (flooding of landowner’s property caused by government
construction project that increased storm drainage onto the land); Barnes v. United
States, 538 F.2d 865 (Ct. Cl. 1976) (flooding of landowner’s property caused by
government’s dam constructions); Eyherabide v. United States, 345 F.2d 565, 566 (Ct.
Cl. 1965) (invasion of landowner’s property by Navy’s dropping of fuel tanks and
shooting of shells and rockets onto the property); Fonalledas v. United States, 107 F.
Supp. 1019, 1022 (Ct. Cl. 1952) (some of landowner’s property was “buried under mud
and silt, [while] others were flooded with salt water and permeated with salt” due to
government’s canal construction); Coates v. United States, 93 F. Supp. 637, 637 (Ct.
Cl. 1950) (“heavy layer of sand” deposited on landowner’s property as result of
government project to improve navigability of river); Cotton Land Co. v. United States,
75 F. Supp. 232 (Ct. Cl. 1948) (flooding of landowner’s property due to government’s
dam construction).

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United States, 346 F.3d 1346, 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2003).4 In order to warrant compensation
as a taking (as distinguished from a tort), the governmentally induced invasion must
meet a two-part test. First, a property owner must prove that the asserted government
invasion of property interests allegedly effecting a taking “was the predictable result of
the government action,” either because it was “the direct or necessary result” of the act
or because it was “within contemplation of or reasonably to be anticipated by the
government.” Id. at 1356; see also, e.g., Sanguinetti, 264 U.S. at 150; John Horstmann
Co. v. United States, 257 U.S. 138, 146 (1921); Barnes, 538 F.2d at 871; Eyherabide,
345 F.2d at 570; Columbia Basin, 132 F. Supp. at 709; Cotton Land Co., 75 F. Supp. at
233-34. Second, the property owner must show that “the government’s interference
with any property rights of [the plaintiff] was substantial and frequent enough to rise to
the level of a taking,” Ridge Line, 346 F.3d at 1357, or, in other words, that the
interference was “inevitably recurring,” Nat’l By-Products, 405 F.2d at 1273. See also,
e.g., Dickinson, 331 U.S. at 749; Cress, 243 U.S. at 328; Barnes, 538 F.2d at 870.
There is no contention here by the government that the Vaizburds failed to
establish these two requirements. Because the government concedes that the sand
accretion amounted to a taking, the only issue on appeal is the amount of
compensation, if any, to be awarded.
4 See, e.g., Sanguinetti v. United States, 264 U.S. 146, 150 (1924); Nat’l
By-Products v. United States, 405 F.2d 1256, 1275 (Ct. Cl. 1969); Columbia Basin
Orchard v. United States, 132 F. Supp. 707, 709 (Ct. Cl. 1955).

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II
The Court of Federal Claims properly held that it could not award nominal
damages if the Vaizburds failed to prove actual damages. Marion & Rye Valley Ry. Co.
v. United States, 270 U.S. 280, 282 (1926); see also Brown v. Legal Found. of Wash.,
538 U.S. 216, 236 (2003). A comparison of the property’s market value before and after
a taking is one appropriate method of valuation in circumstances such as these. See
United States v. Miller, 317 U.S. 369, 376 (1943). However, we agree with the Court of
Federal Claims that the Vaizburds failed to show that the sand accretion caused a
decline in the market value of their property.
A
Here, both the government’s and the Vaizburds’ appraisals employed a
comparable sales methodology in determining the market value of the property before
and after the taking. The Court of Federal Claims rejected the Vaizburds’ before-value
of the property at $16,229,520 because it was based on comparisons with what
“seem[ed] to be . . . very different type[s] of house[s]” in different parts of Brooklyn.
Vaizburd, 57 Fed. Cl. at 231. Conversely, the court accepted the government’s
valuations, finding that the appraiser was a “fully qualified” and “experienced” appraiser
and that the valuations were based on “the best comparables in this case . . . [which]
are house sales along Oceanview Avenue.” Id. at 232. The Vaizburds argue, however,
that the court’s holding as to actual damages was erroneous for several reasons. None
of these arguments has merit.
First, the Vaizburds concede that “the usual way of ascertaining damages” in
easement takings claims is to calculate the property’s market value based on

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comparable sales, (Br. for Appellant at 12), but they also claim that comparable sales
was an inappropriate methodology for this case.5 The Vaizburds correctly point out that
the comparable sales approach is not the only method of determining market value,
see, e.g., United States v. Commodities Trading Corp., 339 U.S. 121, 126 (1950);
United States v. Cors, 337 U.S. 325, 333-34 (1949); Unites States v. Causby, 328 U.S.
256, 261 (1946); United States v. General Motors Corp., 323 U.S. 373, 379 (1945), but
the Vaizburds have not offered any evidence, or even suggested, an appropriate
alternative approach for computing market value in this case. Indeed, the Vaizburds’
own appraisal report rejected other methods of calculating market value. Much less
have the Vaizburds established that the Court of Federal Claims erred in using
comparable sales to determine the market value of their property. See, e.g., Servalli v.
United States, 845 F.2d 1571, 1575 (Fed. Cir. 1988) (“[Trial] courts necessarily must
have considerable discretion to select the method of valuation that is most appropriate
in the light of the facts of the particular case.”).
Second, the Vaizburds argue that “[f]aced with two dramatically different
appraisal reports, neither of which the court was obliged to accept, the court should
have determined the valuation of the easement itself.” (Br. of Appellant at 24.) Again,
the Vaizburds provide no support for the proposition that a court may not adopt one
party’s credible appraisal over the other party’s less credible appraisal. The cases upon
which the Vaizburds rely are inapposite because they involve circumstances where a
court did not find either appraisal credible. See, e.g., Yankton Sioux Tribe v. United
5 To the extent that the Vaizburds challenge the credibility of the
government’s appraisal on the theory that the government appraiser considered sales of
houses that were not comparable, this argument is without merit. As noted previously,
the government appraiser chose other houses on Oceanview Avenue.

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States, 623 F.2d 159 (Ct. Cl. 1980). Here, the Court of Federal Claims did not conclude
that neither valuation was credible. Rather, the court properly rejected the Vaizburds’
appraisal as unreliable and properly adopted the government’s appraisal as credible.
The court was under no obligation to appoint an independent expert to remedy the
Vaizburds’ deficiencies of proof. The Vaizburds’ pro se status did not exempt them from
the usual evidentiary obligations.
Finally, the Vaizburds argue that the government’s “appraisal does not determine
the value of the subject property before and after the taking of the easement for deposit
of sand. . . . [I]nstead [it] simply attempts to measure the infinitesimal change in the
value of the subject property over a period of approximately 30 days.” (Reply Br. of
Appellant at 10.) The Vaizburds are correct that the government appraiser measured
the decrease in market value over a one-month period beginning December 1995 and
ending January 1996. Their argument – that the appraisal should have calculated the
property’s market value before the sand accretion initially began and after the taking
was complete – may have some merit. However, this argument is raised for the first
time on appeal, and then only in their reply brief. Indeed, the Vaizburds’ own appraisal
used the same methodology, calculating the before-value as of the beginning of
September 1995 and the after-value as of the beginning of October 1995.6 The
6 In fact, the Vaizburds conceded at oral argument that they had not
submitted evidence of the market value before the beginning of sand accretion:
APPELLANTS’ COUNSEL: What the [market value] test really describes is not
the time before and after the taking. What you would value, what the appraiser
should value in such a case, is the value of the fee simple with no easement in
the before and the value of the fee simple minus the easement in the after, and
that wasn’t done here . . .
COURT: But the problem is that your client didn’t present any such evidence.

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Vaizburds waived any objection to the government’s appraisal methodology in this
respect.
Therefore, we hold that the Court of Federal Claims’ conclusion that the sand
accretion did not diminish the market value of the Vaizburds’ property is not clearly
erroneous.7
B
The Vaizburds alternatively contend that they should be awarded compensation
on a cost of cure theory of recovery, namely that they should be compensated for the
cost of removing the accreted sand from their property.8 The Court of Claims’ ground
for rejecting cost of cure as a measure of compensation is unclear. The court stated
that it did “not have sufficient evidence from which to fashion a remedy from the costs
related to sand removal,” but it then went on to say that “[c]osts to cure . . . would not be
APPELLANTS’ COUNSEL: Well, that is a problem, certainly . . . .
7 In this connection, the Court of Federal Claims did not err in rejecting
testimony that the sand accretion rendered the Vaizburds’ home “uninhabitable.”
Vaizburd, 57 Fed. Cl. at 225. The court held that to the extent that the home was
uninhabitable, it was a “result of temporary blockage of a [sewer] system which was
already problematic for reasons unrelated to the additional sand.” Id. at 226.
8 The dissent argues that we should reject the cost of cure theory on the
ground that it was not raised below. Four circumstances taken together convince us
otherwise. (1) Cost of cure is not a separate claim but merely a separate theory for
computing the amount of takings liability. See Ridge Line, 346 F.3d at 1358-59. (2)
The Vaizburds were proceeding pro se, and their pleadings should accordingly not be
held to the same standard as parties represented by counsel. Forshey v. Principi, 284
F.3d 1335, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2002) (en banc) (“[W]here a party appeared pro se before
the lower court, a court of appeals may appropriately be less stringent in requiring that
the issue have been raised explicitly below.”). (3) The Ridge Line case upon which the
Vaizburds primarily rely was not decided until after the Court of Federal Claims’
decision. See id. at 1356. (4) The Court of Federal Claims addressed the cost of cure
theory on the merits in its opinion.
As noted below, however, the Vaizburds must rest on the existing factual record
in asserting this theory of recovery.

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independent elements of compensation.” Vaizburd, 57 Fed. Cl. at 233 n.9. The Court
of Federal Claims’ opinion is open to two separate interpretations. On the one hand,
the court may have intended to hold that it had considered the evidence submitted as to
cost of cure and reached the factual conclusion that it did “not have sufficient evidence
from which to fashion remedy,” i.e., that the Vaizburds had not presented sufficient
evidence to establish that they reasonably incurred costs to remove the accreted sand.
Alternatively, the opinion may be read as holding that cost of cure is an inappropriate
independent measure of valuation and may only be considered for its “effect upon fair
market value” of the property itself. If the Court of Federal Claims refused to consider
cost of cure as a viable measure of compensation for the taking of an easement
because there was no effect on market value, then the court erred.
Our recent decision in Ridge Line reaffirmed that the cost of cure can be an
appropriate measure of compensation. The Court of Federal Claims in Ridge Line held
that even if the plaintiff had established that periodic water invasions of its property were
temporary takings, they were not compensable because the plaintiff could not show that
these intrusions diminished its property value. Ridge Line, 346 F.3d at 1352. On
appeal, we rejected this approach. Id. at 1354-55. We explained that once a plaintiff
has established that a taking occurred, it is entitled to compensation for its costs in
preventing the damage caused by government actions, holding that “damages may be
assessed based on [the landowner’s] cost in constructing prudent flood control
measures.” Id. at 1359; see also Eyherabide, 345 F.2d at 570-71 (allowing
“compensation for . . . the loss of improvements and the cost of placing the property in

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its pre-taking condition . . . [and for] clearing and restoring the property in the condition
for rebuilding”).
Similarly, the Supreme Court in Dickinson upheld the Fourth Circuit’s damages
decision “based on the cost of protective measures which the landowners might have
taken to prevent the loss.” 331 U.S. at 747. The plaintiff in Dickinson sued under the
Tucker Act to recover compensation for a taking of their land resulting from government-
induced flooding that caused erosion of their land. Id. The Fourth Circuit held that the
government’s dam construction, which raised the level of the river and led to flooding
and erosion of the plaintiff’s property, “amount[ed] to the taking of easements for which
compensation was due.” United States v. Dickinson, 152 F.2d 865, 871 (4th Cir. 1946).
The Fourth Circuit approved the district court’s award of “reasonable cost[s] . . . of
protective work adequate to prevent the damage by erosion if installed prior to the
raising of the level of the river,” which it concluded “would have been sound economy, in
view of the character and nature of the property, to have made the expenditure.” Id. at
870. The Supreme Court’s opinion approved this approach to valuation by affirming the
award “based on the cost of protective measures which the landowners might have
taken to prevent the loss.” 331 U.S. at 747.
Thus, the cost of cure can be an appropriate measure of compensation. In
rewarding the cost of cure, of course, expenditures are only compensable if they are
“reasonable.” See Ridge Line, 346 F.3d at 1359. In other words, the Vaizburds must
establish that it “would have been sound economy, in view of the character and nature
of the property, to have made the expenditure[s]” for sand removal. Dickinson, 152
F.2d at 870.

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Although there was testimony that the Vaizburds incurred sand removal costs,9
and the record includes some estimates of the cost of further sand removal,10 the
Vaizburds have not pointed to any evidence of the specific amounts paid for such sand
removal. On remand, the Court of Federal Claims should decide whether evidence in
the existing record supports an award of compensation on a cost of cure theory. We
reach no conclusion as to the sufficiency of the evidence in the Court of Federal Claims
record. This issue should be addressed in the Court of Federal Claims in the first
instance.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the Court of Federal Claims’ decision and
remand for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.
VACATED AND REMANDED
COSTS
No costs.
9 The Court of Federal Claims found that the Vaizburds “have paid to have
sand removed at least once from their back yard. . . . [Another Sea Gate resident]
testified that he pays every year to have sand removed to maintain the level well below
his bulkhead. . . . Apparently some of the other owners along Oceanview Avenue have
also paid to have sand removed on occasion.” See Vaizburd, 57 Fed. Cl. at 226. The
government appraiser similarly concluded that “it has been necessary to have a large
amount of sand removed annually, at considerable expense.” (J.A. 1408.)
10 See (J.A. at 1408 (“The owner of the subject sent us copies of estimates
for removal of sand from the rear yard of the subject, in addition to an estimate for
repairs for damage to the house from the sand, as well as an estimate to install a see-
through fence along the top of the bulkhead. . . . The total of the cost estimates was
$37,059”).) (June 24, 1998 Appraisal by Negalia Appraisals, Inc.).

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United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
03-5154
LINDA VAIZBURD and ARKADY VAIZBURD,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
UNITED STATES,
Defendant-Appellee.
FRIEDMAN, Senior Circuit Judge, dissenting in part.
I agree with and join the Background section and Parts I and II.A of the court’s
opinion, which uphold the Court of Federal Claims’ “conclusion that the sand accretion
did not diminish the market value of the Vaizburds’ property [as] not clearly erroneous.”
See Vaizburd v. United States, 57 Fed. Cl. 221, 233 (2003). I disagree, however, with
the ruling in Part II.B that remands the case to that court to determine whether the
Vaizburds can recover just compensation based on the cost of removing the sand from
lot 3. I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Federal Claims in its entirety.
As far as I can tell, the Vaizburds never sought recovery on that theory in the
Court of Federal Claims. During the lengthy and extensive proceedings in that court,
their sole claim to recovery was based on the alleged lower value of their property after
the taking of the easement. Based on the sale price of other properties in Brooklyn,
which they asserted were, but the trial court held were not, comparable to their property,
they contended that before the taking their property was worth more than $ 16 million,

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but that after the taking its value was reduced to the low $300,000’s. See 57 Fed. Cl. at
231-33.
In neither their pre-trial Memorandum of Contentions of Fact and Law nor their
sixty-one page Motion for Reconsideration and Relief from Judgment (filed after the trial
court had issued its opinion) did the Vaizburds even suggest, let alone argue, that the
just compensation could be based on the alternative theory that they were entitled at
least to the cost of removing the sand from their lot. They did not even contend that the
removal cost could be an element in the before-and-after value method. In their briefs
to this court, the Vaizburds cite only the government’s appraisal report for record
evidence concerning the cost of previous efforts to remove sand from the subject
properties. See Reply Br. at 2 (citing JA 1408, 1428-30).
The Court of Federal Claims’ sole discussion of the cost of removing sand in its
twenty-page opinion was the following footnote:
We do not have sufficient evidence from which to fashion a
remedy from the costs related to sand removal: “[C]osts to
cure and other elements resultant from the taking are only
admissible on the issue of just compensation if they are tied
to their effect upon fair market value.” Nichols on Eminent
Domain, 4A § 14.A.04[2][a]. Normally they would not be
independent elements of compensation, in other words,
unless it can be shown that the reduced after value assumes
some continuing mitigation cost.
57 Fed. Cl. at 233 n.9.
Since the Vaizburds never sought recovery on this theory in the Court of Federal
Claims, that court’s statements on the point are dicta. The court’s remand seemingly is
designed to correct what it views as a possible legal error by the trial court in “refus[ing]
to consider cost of cure as a viable measure of compensation for the taking of an

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easement because there was no effect on market value.” Whatever may be the merits
of that issue, in the circumstances here I see no reason for the remand the court orders
for the trial court to reconsider that theory of recovery.
To be sure, the Vaizburds represented themselves in the Court of Federal
Claims. This, however, is not the typical pro se case in which a court condones a
litigant’s failure to meet certain procedural or technical requirements. As the Court of
Federal Claims explained:
Despite lack of counsel, plaintiffs’ legal argument and
presentation did not suffer. They understood the relevant
principles and Arkady Vaizburd, who handled the courtroom
presentation, was very skilled at presenting evidence and
making relevant objections.
57 Fed. Cl. at 222 n.1.
The Vaizburds’ failure to raise the cost-of-removal issue before the Court of
Federal Claims was not a forgiveable oversight or inadvertence but appears to have
been a deliberate choice. I would hold them to that choice, and not give them a further
opportunity to correct what they may now view as a mistaken strategy in the trial court.

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