Fanny Levin Et Al. v. State New York

The State in 1954 appropriated some 34 acres of property belonging to the claimants in Oyster Bay in connection with the construction of the Long Island Expressway. The Court of Claims made an award of over $672,000, consisting of about $557,000 as damages for the land and some $115,000 as interest from the date of taking. A divided Appellate Division affirmed the judgment. Although buildings were planned for the land, it was vacant at the time of the taking, and it is the State's contention that the courts below erred (1) in basing the award upon a capitalization of income from a projected but nonexistent structure and (2) in accepting, as supporting evidence, market value data consisting of sales of other parcels of land said to be not comparable.