Finders Keepers

A contractor who found collectible cash worth about $500,000 in metal boxes hidden between the studs of a bathroom that he was renovating is suing the home owner to keep the money, after rejecting her offer of 10 percent, The Plain Dealer, a Cleveland newspaper, reported on December 12, 2007.

Bob Kitts was working on the 83-year-old home near Cleveland, owned by a high school friend, Amanda Reece, who was away at the time.

After he found the first box, the contractor called the home owner who rushed home. Together they found four more boxes full of cash and religious memorabilia. Appraisers determined that much of the more than $100,000 in depression-era cash were collectible rare 1929-series Cleveland Federal Reserve bank notes, worth about $85 each.

Apparently the money can be traced back to a businessman who owned the home during the Great Depression. The businessman apparently died unmarried and childless. I smell a great niece making an appearance in court soon.

The contractor claims he found lost money and Ohio law says it’s finders keepers, if there’s no owner likely to appear to collect the treasure.

The home owner says the money is hers and the contractor is just trying to “shake” her down. You think?

At this point it looks like a judge will have to decide.

I can't help thinking like a lawyer when I hear stories like this one. Maybe anyone who owns an old home should include a clause in any contracts with contractors spelling out that anything found anywhere in the home or on the property belongs to the home owner.

Of course, this contractor never had to tell the home owner he even found the metal boxes.

Read The Plain Dealer Article