Martin Marietta Corp. v. United States

OPINION

WIESE, Judge.

In 1965, plaintiffs, the owners of a dolomite stone quarry, received notice from local government officials that a portion of their mining property might be condemned to permit the relocation of a bordering highway. The condemnation was not carried out until 1970. In the intervening years, however, plaintiffs calculated their statutory allowance for cost depletion1 on *587the basis of an estimate of recoverable reserves that anticipated the reduction in minable stone expected from the proposed taking. This had the effect of increasing their per-ton depletion rate — a result…