Word: spater
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Spater has good reason to urge courts to hold that line. Though his fascinating and well-documented article does not disclose it, he is general counsel of American Airlines.* He is understandably fretful and concerned about two recent state court decisions in Oregon and Washington, flatly holding that airway noise is compensable even though the plaintiff's airspace is not violated...
Because annoyance is subjective, says Manhattan Lawyer George A. Spater in the Michigan Law Review, courts usually insist on tangible harm before they do anything about noise. Typically, the plaintiff recovers only if noise decreases the value of his property. Recovery for personal injury is rare, says Spater; recovery because of mere sensitivity to noise is impossible...
Legal Nuisance. Spater notes that governmental noisemakers such as the Air Force are even freer to deafen their neighbors. For one thing, neither federal nor local government can be sued unless it consents. Some state laws specify that no activity called for by statute "can be deemed a nuisance." And while the U.S. Constitution (Fifth Amendment) guarantees just compensation for private property taken for public use, says Spater, "taken" means invaded by physical action-not mere noise...
...Doctrine. Lawyer Spater argues that Causby and Batten should continue to be controlling decisions in the coming age of "sonic booms" caused by aircraft operating at supersonic speed...