Contractor Finds Money In Wall

vconstruction

Did anyone see the article about the contractor who found all of that money hidden in the bathroom walls? He wants a share of it and the homeowner says no. Now it is a big court issue. That is crazy. Why couldn't that of been me. There would be no court problem the homeowner never would have known. I would have showed up for work a couple of days later with a bunch of new tools!!!! Just kidding I would have to tell them I am to honest. That is crazy though to find that much money.

L. B. Condulet

This comes as news to me! Any more details?

woodman42

Yea, I don't get it, its her house, its her job, she's paying the bill, its her money. I don't think the contractor has any right to it.
She did offer him 10% of what he found.

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L. B. Condulet

If I was the contractor in this case, I would do the ethical thing, which is to give the money to the homeowner. It was found on the home owner's property after all. The contractor is a jerk.

needthingsdone?

Wed Dec 12, 10:42 PM ET CLEVELAND - A contractor who helped discover bundles of Depression-era U.S. currency totaling $182,000 hidden behind bathroom walls said the homeowner should turn the money over to him or at least share it.
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Bob Kitts said his feud with the owner of the 83-year house, a former high school classmate, has deteriorated to the point where they speak to each other only through lawyers.
Kitts said his lawyer has drafted a lawsuit that he hopes will force Amanda Reece to turn over the money she has kept.
Most of the currency, issued in 1927 and 1929, is in good condition, and some of the bills are so rare that one currency appraiser valued the treasure at up to $500,000, Kitts said.
Reece accuses Kitts of extortion.
The fight began in May 2006 when Kitts was gutting Reece's bathroom and found a box below the medicine cabinet that contained $25,200.
"I almost passed out," Kitts recalled. "It was the ultimate contractor fantasy."
He called Reece, who rushed home. Together they found another steel box tied to the end of a wire nailed to a stud. Inside was more than $100,000, Kitts said. Two more boxes were filled with a mix of money and religious memorabilia.
"It was insane," Kitts said. "She was in shock — she was a wreck."
The bundles had "P. Dunne" written on them, a likely reference to Peter Dunne, a businessman who owned the home during the Depression.
Kitts said he took some of the currency for an appraisal and learned that many of the $10 bills were rare 1929-series Cleveland Federal Reserve bank notes, worth about $85 each. There also were $500 bills and one $1,000 bill.
John Chambers, an attorney for Reece, said Kitts rejected his client's offer of a 10 percent finder's fee and demanded 40 percent of the small fortune.
Reece has no intention of backing down in the face of what she considers a shakedown, Chambers said.
Kitts asserts he found lost money, and court rulings in Ohio establish that a "finders keepers" law applies if there's no reason to believe any owner will reappear to claim it.
It may be up to a judge to decide, said Heidi Robertson, a professor who teaches property law at Cleveland State University.
Kitts said it would be unfair for him to take everything.
"For such a happy, exciting adventure, I can't believe it just went to heck like this," he said.
___
Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

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macmikeman

Here is what you do next time you are opening up the walls and you find a couple hundred grand in there. Sneak it out in your socks and underwear like your are Sandy Berger. If you get caught you can claim you made a goofy mistake cause your so old and befuddled. Then go research the history of the house, so you can quell any of the guilt you will feel about the whole sordid affair. 90% chance the house had 10 different owners since the cash got stashed in there, and the current occupants have no more "ethical" rights to it than you, although in a legal aspect of it, nothing could be further than the truth. They purchased the house, including all furnishings, and cash buried in the walls is furnishings. So if you take it you are stealing and you are a thief.

dougchips

Did he have a contract? If so did it state that he was responsible for removing the walls and disposing of the contents? It belongs to the contractor, it's old paper---just garbage.

macmikeman

Doug, I like that answer too. As long as you get to keep the money its ok with me....

Forry

Why rationalize it? It's money and he could have had it all for himself if he'd just taken it. What's the problem?

L. B. Condulet

Imagine how long you could stay in business with that kind of money?

You could remain self employed for at least another two years!

SelfContract

The more "classic/old" paper is, the more value/worth it has on eBay. Believe me, he or she can sell those bills one by one ebay for many hundred times of its face value!! Old bill collectors LOVE antique bills to death!!!...

6stringmason

I cant believe that some people here feel it would be theirs to keep.

Its on someone elses property, in someone elses wall, that someone else pays taxes for!! No contractor would have any right to this money in any sense of the word.

No wonder people have bad ideas about contractors. A bunch of fu*ckin crooks out there who think everything on the jobsite is theirs.

Too bad Home Depot doesnt sell ethics. Some folks could use some.

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slickshift

Four threads on the same subject
First one posted wins
http://www.contractortalk.com/f22/remenber-demolition-treasure-finds-30767/

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