In Village of Highland Falls v. State of New York, 44 N.Y.2d 505 (1978), the Court of Claims awarded the rental value of the claimant's property for the entire duration of the temporary easement (the precise measure adopted by the lower courts in this case), but the Appellate Division modified and reduced the award to the rental value of the claimant's property for the three days in which its use was actually interrupted by the State's easement (the precise measure of damages urged by the State here). The property in question was improved by a municipal water treatment facility, which occupied a portion of the tract subject to the temporary easement. The Court affirmed the Appellate Division, stating that "the general rule is that property taken in eminent domain is to be valued prospectively from the time of appropriation . . . . "When a temporary easement, contemplating only incidental and contingent use, is appropriated, rather than a permanent interest, however, it may be somewhat more acceptable to permit the use of hindsight in valuing the interest taken. If the condemnation award is made after the easement has expired, it makes practical sense to compute the property owner's actual damages rather than indulging in speculation on the measure of damages claimant could have contemplated at the time of taking" (44 NY2d at 508). In adopting a retrospective measure of damages, the Court observed that "it has been held by this court . . . that compensation need not be paid for the State's taking of a temporary easement when there is no actual interference with the property owner's use of his property" (44 NY2d at 507) The Court found "insufficient reason for abandoning the above precedent" where a three-year-long temporary easement connected to highway improvements gave the State "the legal right to exercise some sort of dominion throughout the period of the easement," but, in fact, the claimant's "operation of the water treatment facility was rarely significantly interrupted" (44 NY2d at 507, 508).