This from AP:

Contractor, Owner Fight Over Hidden Depression-era Cash, Which Are Now RARE Bills And Worth Ever More:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g6AOXC6wzRhtm2lduiWfx8sXuHcAD8TIUCLO0

I think it's Amanda's money, since it was found in her home. Bob Kitts is dirty scoundrel pulling something like this. Who do You think is right?

She is. He should get NOTHING! He rejected a 10% finders fee which could have been $50,000? Greedy Jerk! It was her house!

Just read this.

WHAT AN ASS!

The finders fee is a total wind fall right there. No reasonable person would feel otherwise.

Totally agreed on him getting absolutely nothing. Funny too. The attorneys are likely to consume that much before it's over. Seems to me, that about equals the finders fee.

He can consider it a foolish wager, lump it, and move on.

Surprised he didn't just keep the cash, and tell her nothing. I'm sure that's exactly why he feels entitled, as only an ass would.

Is everyone forgetting the original owner, or his heirs. If they can be found, the money belongs to them.

Nwokie, first they have to prove it belonged to the original owner and since she bought the house she bought everything in it, so maybe she has all the rights to it.

It will just be another thing for the courts to decide. Most of the money will end up in lawyers and the governments hands.

PS to blogman: The bundles had the previous owners name on them.

How sad to die and have all that money (almost) go to waste. It would be interesting to hear more about the original owner's life story, which we might, if his heirs come out the woodwork (Ha!) like cockroaches...

Her house, her money. The contractor is deserving of zilch.

The contractor and the lawyer representing him are both greedy jerks.

I agree the contractor deserves nothing, however, if the original owner or his heirs can be found, the money belongs to them. Plus where did the money come from originally? If it was illegally obtained, was taxes paid on it, etc.

I don't see how the original owner has a stake in this anymore. The house was sold to someone else, so everything that comes with the house when it's sold becomes the new owner's property.

Courts don't usually see it that way, property inadvertantly left in a house, is still the property of the original owner.

There are time limitations on that, otherwise a travesty of the law results.

Been a pretty long time. I'll wager any claim, at this date is moot.

By the contractor's logic, everything he finds behind the wall is his, so I guess he might try to claim the studs, the pipes and the wiring too.

I don't see how under any logic that a contractor has the rights to something he "finds" on someone else's property. He should have taken the free cash so graciously offered by the owner of the property.

Original owner died. Unmarried no heirs.

What if he was replacing her carpeting and found a diamond earring?

What if I go in his garage and "find" a truck? Hey, I found a pound of salami in your refrigerator, guess it's mine. Same with the lawn mower I "found" in your back yard.....

As a fake internet lawyer, I looked for reasons the contractor may have had to claim the money. One of them could have been a salvage clause allowing the contractor to keep whatever he finds -- usually reuseable building material that may have resale value. The article doesn't provide enough info to make any conclusion. The contractor may have very well have had rights to it.

Aside from a contract with the contractor the loot belongs to the homeowner, not the heirs. The heirs can't reclaim "lost" property any more than they can help themselves to a few joists or copper plumbing they "left behind".

If an activist judge ( ) rules that heirs can claim it, the homeowner can charge a hefty storage bill.

NO HEIRS!!! take it out of the equation. There aren't any.

Hey Roger, do you have a link to more info on that original owner? I couldn't find out anything about him, like that he had no heirs? Thanks!

What a stupid, greedy claim by the contractor. Even if he was hired as a treasure-hunter, one would expect a fee to be paid to him for his services; a "cut" or additional finder's fee would be generous. Given the greed of this guy, I'm surprised he didn't pocket all or most of the money before the resident got home! Actually, I suppose he could have found a lot more, and kept most of it. Then this lawsuit would simply be a diversion to make people think he's trying to obtain it legally. It sounds like a John Grisham Novel, but hey, you never know!

"What a stupid, greedy claim by the contractor."

Do you have evidence that the contractor didn't have documented claim to it?

"I'm surprised he didn't pocket all or most of the money before the resident got home!"

I've thought about this too. I believe he would have taken all the money before she got home, if he had thought through all of the ramifications. I believe he's kicking himself for not acting on the idea originally.

No link, sorry, but since this was a local story for me, It was covered pretty well In the Plain Dealer, and all the local talk radio stations.....

"Do you have evidence that the contractor didn't have documented claim to it?"

No... but I also don't have evidence that the resident gave the contractor power of attorney, or that the holy grail wasn't also contained in the walls of the home. I think the burden of proof is on HIM to demonstrate he should have a claim for some of the loot.

Anything found on the property owned by the owner, is also property of the owner. The contractor has zero right to anything found on the premisis. This seems pretty cut and dry to me.

Wrong

A contractor CAN have a sipulation that what he tears down or removes is HIS.

Happens often.

Shane

So you don't have proof on way or the other so you blast the contractor.

Interesting.

Burden of proof . . . What the heck are you talking about q. The contractor doesn't have to prove nothing to you or the newsmedia. All he has to do is show his contract to judge if he thinks he entited to it.

There is clearly not enough facts to engage in anything but speculation. Tell your claim to the National Enquirer. Heck they'll even buy your burden of proof nonsense.

Skeptical, you're off your rocker if you think a contractor can come into your house and lay claim to any personal property they "find".

Nope. Heck, some contracts are written to haul off EVERYTHING. If the owner is gonna start laying claim to something AFTER I started the work, tough cookies.

I take the risk if the job is harder or costlier than I bid it to be, and vice versa.

So, Skeptical you would take the walls, the wiring, the plumbing, the roof, the doors and windows, the floor and the kitchen sink?

If its in the contract to haul off the sink, yes. These days the reuse value of material is calculated as well as the cost to haul off waste. So, while hauling off the sink, if I find its made of silver, its mine! Likewise, if I find out the sink is made of radioactive plutonium after removal, its my problem to pay for its disposal. See?

One can't rush to judgment without seeing all the documents.

Any property found as the result of a bathroom gut should not be the property of a contractor. And any contractor that would act like that in my house would be glad I don't own a gun, because it's attitudes like that make me want to use one. An old bathroom sink is garbage, a bag full of cash is different. The contractor is scum of the earth.

Me thinks your last contractor left a vat of plutonium behind a wall he remodeled at your house for being a cheapsake.

Dude, I'm not a cheapskate. If the guy hauled away my junk sink and it turned out to be a royal sink worth $10K, then my loss, I threw it out as garbage. However, if some burnout contractor is at my house tearing apart a wall and finds a bag of cash in the wall, it ain't his, it's mine, because it's my house. I own the walls, dirt below, and everything in between. The contractor is a guest in my house being paid to do a job, not play finders keepers.

He has no right to the money. This is a cut and dry case to the rational person. Only a greedy contractor would have the gall to make a stink about it.

How about this: I actually took a contractor to the Builder's Board and an arbitrator ruled in my favor of some $12,000 owed me for uncompleted work or shoddy work from a crooked contractor. But I did learn something from this, you'd be surprised at the strange underworld of contractor rights. Guests in your house they are not -- they have certain legal rights once a contract is signed -- if there is anything vague in a contract, arbitrators will likely give the contractor advantage.

Moral: punch holes in your sheet rock before you sign a contract because the bag of money a contractor finds may not be yours.

...or read that contract, redline some annoyances, and give consideration for those redlines, if necessary to close the deal.

Read EVERYTHING before signing it. If it's unusually big, or small, read it even more closely, no matter what the pressure is to do otherwise. In fact, if you feel that pressure, stop, take extra time and read it again.

I've redlined many items in my day. It is possible to do, and often to your advantage. (have their agent initial the redline too)

If you can't redline something, or they won't accept it, I suggest you go shopping, or see your attorney.

(that includes employment contracts --I've redlined some of the invention / discovery clauses where they exceed the scope of related business)