Cash in Wall  |
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|  I think the homeowner deserves all the money. She is willing to share a 10% finder's fee with the contractor but he wants 40%. I think the contractor should take what the homeowner is offering. After all it was found in her house. What's your opinion?
A Cleveland contractor who helped discover bundles of U.S. currency, which was issued in 1927 and 1929, while gutting a client's bathroom is demanding the homeowner hand over the cash or at least share some of it.
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."
What's Your Take?
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.
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1.  mamasan34 (4084)
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5 years ago
| |  I think the contractor is in the wrong. The money that was found in the wall was part of the property whether it was known to be there or not. This contractor is just greedy. It was nice that the home owner at least offered a 10% finders fee, because she doesn't even have to do that. That is most fair. Considering the job of fixing the bathroom would have been less than $5000, and after the 10% finders fee, considering the treasure has been appraised to be around $500,000, would be around $50,000, I think he's still making out!
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| carolbee (7667)
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5 years ago
| | I totally agree with you. The contractor is very greedy. Thanks for responding. | | | |
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2.  Stephanie5 (1756)
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5 years ago
| |  I don't think the contractor is "entitled" to any of the money. I think that the homeowner offering 10% is generous. The house belongs to the owner so anything in the house is the owners. I think the contractor is just being greedy. I don't know or understand why the contractor thinks they deserve so much. Greedy people.
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| carolbee (7667)
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5 years ago
| | Greed is the root of all evil! I agree with you. Thanks for responding. | | | |
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| 3. Kazashmaza (355)
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5 years ago
| |  Of course the contractor wants the money. Most of them are greedy mungrals and will do anything for money!
However, the contractor doesn't deserve any and is lucky to be offered 10%. The fact that it went to court probably means that the contractor will end up with nothing which means that his greed made him lose out!
sucked in to him!
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| carolbee (7667)
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5 years ago
| | The contractor should take the money and run. He also is jeopardizing a high school friendship. Thanks for responding. | | | |
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| 4. lilybug (16923)
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5 years ago
| |  I think he should take the 10% before she decides to give him ZERO% of the money. She bought the house and in doing so bought whatever had been left behind by the previous owners. The contractor sounds like a real jerk to me.
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| carolbee (7667)
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5 years ago
| | I agree, it's her money. He deserves 0% for his nasty behavior. Thanks for responding. | | | |
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| 5. howard96h (5692)
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5 years ago
| |  This is crazy, the contractor was working on HER property, in HER house and what ever he found belongs to the homeowner. Shame on him. He should be happy she even offered him the 10%. I'd bet if the shoe was on the other foot he'd be singing a whole different tune!
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| carolbee (7667)
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5 years ago
| | The contractor should take whatever the homeowner is willing to give him and drop it. Good way to ruin a friendship also. Thanks for responding. | | | |
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| 6. aidenofthetower (1529)
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5 years ago
| |  It seems crazy to me. He wouldn't have ever found it if she hadn't HIRED him to go in and do a JOB! I actually heard about this one on the news and was just amazed that he didn't jump on the 10% she offered, which seemed unnecessary and of course generous. Of course there are a lot of people out there that think that they should get a share of something that isn't really theirs.
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| carolbee (7667)
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5 years ago
| | I'd be thrilled to take 10% of something that wasn't mine. Thanks for responding. | | | |
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| 7. RLFinNash (5720)
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5 years ago
| |  hello carolbee
wow! gosh! wouldn't that be grand if you were re-gutting your bathroom or any room in your house for that matter and found a small fortune like that? and i do not blame the lady either because the money was found in her house. but the contractor found the money, so i think that they just ought to split the money, neither one of them had it in the first place until the contractor found the money.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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| carolbee (7667)
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5 years ago
| | The contractor could have taken the money and not told the owner but since that didn't happen, he should take what he is offered. Thanks for responding. | | | |
| RLFinNash (5720)
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5 years ago
| | your very welcome. | | | |
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| 8. blueunicorn (1269)
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5 years ago
| |  Well, once again I am going to have an unpopular and very different view point on this. I am looking at this from a contractor's point of view. When a contactor is employed to do work, they are usually responsible for the taking away of any trash or anything that is needed in order to finish the job. Therefore, the "trash" becomes the property of the contractor. This box appears to be included in what would have reasonably been "property" of the contractor to dispose of. If it had been a box filled with rats, for example, the home owner would have expected him to dispose of it, even if he had not originally expected to find that. So, the contactor is not being greedy. That is actually one of the benefits to taking away the trash left behind. Every once in awhile a treasure is found.
My husband and I own a landscape maintenance company. We have done clean-ups for real estate agents in the past and been told to take away everything that was left behind in the yard. Again, one of the benefits to that is that we have the discretion to choose how to dispose of the items once they are turned over to us. I have to admit, we have gotten a patio set that we used and a couple of other small items by doing these types of clean ups. If something had turned out to be valueable we would have been under no obligation to turn those things in, as we were hired to take them away.
Now, on an ethical point of view, I do think the contractor should give some of the money back to the home owner. I still don't think his request of keeping 40% is unreasonable, though. In society we tend to want it both ways. Again, if that box had been filled with something disgusting the contractor would have been expected to take it away and figure out how to dispose of it.
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| carolbee (7667)
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5 years ago
| | Thanks so much for responding. You have a valid point here. | | | |
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| 9. jillhill (17681)
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5 years ago
| |  I think since it was in her walls....and he would have never found it if she hadn't hired him.....that it belongs to her.
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| carolbee (7667)
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5 years ago
| | I do think it belongs to her but she needs to be thankful at the same time that he was honest enough to tell her about it. He should take what she offers and be happy with it. Thanks for responding. | | | |
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