The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: ReardenSteel on November 08, 2008, 07:45:02 PM
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LOL
Cash found in Ohio house's walls becomes nightmare (http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/H/HOUSE_HIDDEN_MONEY?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-11-08-14-55-45)
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A contractor who found $182,000 in Depression-era currency hidden in a bathroom wall has ended up with only a few thousand dollars, but he feels some vindication.
The windfall discovery amounted to little more than grief for contractor Bob Kitts, who couldn't agree on how to split the money with homeowner Amanda Reece.
It didn't help Reece much, either. She testified in a deposition that she was considering bankruptcy and that a bank recently foreclosed on one of her properties.
And 21 descendants of Patrick Dunne - the wealthy businessman who stashed the money that was minted in a time of bank collapses and joblessness - will each get a mere fraction of the find.
"If these two individuals had sat down and resolved their disputes and divided the money, the heirs would have had no knowledge of it," said attorney Gid Marcinkevicius, who represents the Dunne estate. "Because they were not able to sit down and divide it in a rational way, they both lost."
(More at link)
What to do what to do? And, btw, how about that lawyers ethics? Don't the descendants deserve something? Sheesh. What a mess. Though, a funny mess.
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I totally would have kept my mouth shut and snuck it out. But then again, I'm a mean rethuglican.
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I totally would have kept my mouth shut and snuck it out. But then again, I'm a mean rethuglican.
Hey look I just found a huge pile of cash in your wall! WTF? Who says that?
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Hey look I just found a huge pile of cash in your wall! WTF? Who says that?
An Obama supporter, no doubt. Felt the urge to distribute the wealth. :-)
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You'd think they would have figured out that 182k split two ways would be a lot more than 182k split several ways after attorneys fees.
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You'd think they would have figured out that 182k split two ways would be a lot more than 182k split several ways after attorneys fees.
No kidding, lol. And the contractor only asked for 40%. The home owner thought he should get 10%. Just wow. Then again, when was the last time it was the contractor who got screwed. :uhsure:
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No kidding, lol. And the contractor only asked for 40%. The home owner thought he should get 10%. Just wow. Then again, when was the last time it was the contractor who got screwed. :uhsure:
Ha! Good point. :-)
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Hey look I just found a huge pile of cash in your wall! WTF? Who says that?
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/firelatte/smiles/icon_redface.gif)
I would. Heck I found $5 on the floor at work and went around asking everyone if they lost $5 and then left it at the receptionist desk in case it was a customers.
Even if I found money in a wall while working, I would tell the homeowner, since though it was accidental to find, to me it would be the homeowner's money and if I took it that would be stealing.
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(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/firelatte/smiles/icon_redface.gif)
I would. Heck I found $5 on the floor at work and went around asking everyone if they lost $5 and then left it at the receptionist desk in case it was a customers.
Even if I found money in a wall while working, I would tell the homeowner, since though it was accidental to find, to me it would be the homeowner's money and if I took it that would be stealing.
Gotta agree. I would tell the owner. I'd like to think for the right reasons but I'm sure some of it might be to explain how I came to possess a ton of 80 year old cash shortly after working on a 90 year old house. :p
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There SHOULD have been a binding note drawn up at the closing saying any personal property left after the closing belonged to the new owner. Case resolved, the title went to the last in the chain of title. Always get that little note, you never know when it will be useful.
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(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/firelatte/smiles/icon_redface.gif)
I would. Heck I found $5 on the floor at work and went around asking everyone if they lost $5 and then left it at the receptionist desk in case it was a customers.
Even if I found money in a wall while working, I would tell the homeowner, since though it was accidental to find, to me it would be the homeowner's money and if I took it that would be stealing.
So you gave the receptionist 5 bucks, awefully nice of you to buy lunch.
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So you gave the receptionist 5 bucks, awefully nice of you to buy lunch.
That's up to her if she took it. I knew it wasn't mine, so I asked around and then gave it to her in case a customer or co-worker came up and said they lost $5. *shrug*
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You guys are so honest. Good thing I'm going to church. Looks like I need to repent!
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You guys are so honest. Good thing I'm going to church. Looks like I need to repent!
I bet you would do the right thing irl
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No kidding, lol. And the contractor only asked for 40%. The home owner thought he should get 10%. Just wow. Then again, when was the last time it was the contractor who got screwed. :uhsure:
In reality you'd be surprised how often consumer disputes are rectified through a contractors liability insurance. Just another reason costs are what they are.
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The contractor should have told the owner, of course, and frankly it wasn't up to him to demand ANYTHING. He should have taken his 10 percent and kept his mouth shut.
And why are the descendents of the PREVIOUS homeowner getting dime one? The guy sold the house, they had no knowledge of the money, and since the house wasn't theirs any longer (and likely never was theirs) what was in the house belongs to the new owner, period.
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And why are the descendents of the PREVIOUS homeowner getting dime one? The guy sold the house, they had no knowledge of the money, and since the house wasn't theirs any longer (and likely never was theirs) what was in the house belongs to the new owner, period.
I agree totally. They certainly wouldn't take ownership of any liability the house had. Once they sold the house they lost any right to claim anything.
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Actually, in some states, they do, without that b ill of sale at the closing for any and all of the personal property left in the house after the closing date.
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Not to mention that on E-BAY you can get more than "face" for those old silver certificates. No, I'd have "made a deal" with the builder.
Oh, during the prohabition era, dairy farms were used to store alch.in the milk tanks. The farmers were paid a rental fee, and it was often stored in those 5 gal milk cans, then burried by the farmers so they'd not have to explain tens of thousands in cash in the house if the storage was ever discovered. It was dug up a bit at a time after as it was needed. A lot of it is still out there, underground as the farmers died, became senile, etc..
Off shore in Wainscott LI NY about 200 years ago, a ship went on the outer bar here. And was abandoned by the pirate crew. A few locals went out and discovered THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of silver Spanish dubloons. Before a storm cqame up and smashed the ship to bits, a very large portion on the silver was salvaged. These families,while not "rich" thereafter remained farmers, but what we'd call "hobby" farmers. Yes, ther sort of worked the land, but never really workled all THAT hard for a couple of centuries. Today they ARE rich because that land they hobby farmed went from $1 an acre to $750,000 and more an acre, it is not what you know, who you know , but are you a member of the "lucky sperm club"/ that matters.
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(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/firelatte/smiles/icon_redface.gif)
I would. Heck I found $5 on the floor at work and went around asking everyone if they lost $5 and then left it at the receptionist desk in case it was a customers.
Even if I found money in a wall while working, I would tell the homeowner, since though it was accidental to find, to me it would be the homeowner's money and if I took it that would be stealing.
Agreed -- the money was 100% the homeowner's. When you a buy a home, yo g et all assets of that home, visible or not. The amount to be given back to the contractor, if anything, is solely at the moral compass of the homeowner. What the family is doing in the mix, I have no idea. It is NOT moral to say "I deserve something because I did the right thing." Id that was true, it wouldn't be the right thing.
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(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/firelatte/smiles/icon_redface.gif)
I would. Heck I found $5 on the floor at work and went around asking everyone if they lost $5 and then left it at the receptionist desk in case it was a customers.
Even if I found money in a wall while working, I would tell the homeowner, since though it was accidental to find, to me it would be the homeowner's money and if I took it that would be stealing.
I use to be that way, but not anymore.
Several years ago, we were at a Long John Silvers in Mesquite, TX. My daughter, about 11 at the time, whispered, "Dad. Dad. Look." Then she raised her foot up. She was standing on a roll of bills. Over $800.00.
I decided to do the "right" thing. I thought it would be a good lesson for my children. The store manager called the police. We turned it over.
To make a sad story short, I am SURE that money was divided between the two officers who responded to the call. The city knew of only a hundred dollars being found. No one would tell me, after repeated calls, who claimed the money (they claimed it had been claimed).
From then on, if I find cash, it's mine.
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Make sure it is not counterfit first....