A HUGE find close to home

[BioProfessor]

I didn't make this find and it wasn't made with a metal detector but it parallels some of the conversations we have had on the forum about finds and who owns them. The story is new on CNN this morning and should be worth following.

Seems a couple had a contractor do some work on their bathroom (**a person lets you metal detect their land**). In doing the work, the contractor finds about $180,000.00 in now rare bills from the 1930's (**while metal detecting, you find a hoard of coins and bills buried by the barn**). The homeowner offers the contractor a 10% finders fee. The contractor says "Finder's keepers." and hires a lawyer.

Should be interesting to find out how this turns out. Do the homeowners really own it and get to keep it? Does the contractor who found it get to keep it? Do they have to split it? Does it go back to the family who sold the house where their father lived and hide the money (money wrapped in newspaper dated during the time)?

However it turns out, it may have an impact on our hobby.

Daryl

 

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[Yarrum]

I agree that the homeowner has the rightful claim to the find. I also agree with Montana that 10% is nothing to be sniffed at, what an *#@hole.

 

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[JamesE]

I have a brand new toilet sitting in my front room, it is a thing of shining beauty, comfort level and elongated bowl, a veritable ode de' commode. The old one is as nasty as any I've ever seen, crusty, spattered, the epitome of squalor and I'VE CONDITIONED MYSELF TO USING IT BUTT ONCE A WEEK OUT OF FEAR AND DISGUST. If anyone wants to stop by and install the new one they can have anything they find in or under the old one, but not behind it.
What about bottle hunters in old outhouse pits, do they even want to keep what they dig?

 

[cheese]

I think the difference here is that this guy was hired. Hired to do a job specifically. He wasn't there to look for treasure. When you ask to metal detect a yard, and get the ok, the owner knows you are looking for something worth finding. They know you hope to find something good, and will leave with your finds unless you agree to some other terms. When you hire someone to work on your house, you don't expect them to be loading up whatever things you have in the house that you didn't know existed.

If I hire someone to do some work on my home, and they find a gold watch in the wall, it's mine.

If I give permission to someone to hunt my yard for treasure and they find a gold watch, it is theirs and I'm happy that their efforts were fruitful.

That's the way I see it anyway, but then I'm not the one making the laws.

 

[The Hammer]

The homeowner will get 5%, the contractor will get 5% and the "BLOODSUCKING LAWYERS" will get 90%.

100% guarenteed!!

The Hammer

 

[roswellborn]

Earlier, I posted to this topic and included a link to the story from the Cleveland newspaper. Apparently, few people read all three pages of the article as people are still saying that the heirs need to be found. The story states that the original owner was never married and had no children, therefore there are no heirs. That should simplify things considerably.

I'm one of those that did read the entire article. I noticed that one short sentence mentioned that the contractor had also punched holes in other walls in the gal's house, without her permission - apparently looking for more loot.

From that article:
"Now she worries that thieves will take crowbars to her brick home's plaster in search of more loot. Kitts [the contractor] already did that to other parts of Reece's home without her permission and found nothing "

If I hired a contractor to fix the bathroom floor and he then went and poked holes in the living room wall - I'd be fit to be tied!

Honestly, if he does get any portion of the loot, I sure hope they withhold enough to fix the damage he did.

What a mess.

Nan

 

[renegade_7]

I'd say homeowner gets it. The previous owners sold it, and I believe when you buy property, you buy all the property; the roof, the walls, the inside of the walls. He should have taken the 10%.

 

[imafishingnutt]

I wouldn't be surprised if the person's who hid it family gets involved and makes a claim too.

Who do you think it belongs to?

It belongs to the homeowners... 10 percent was nothing for the contractor to sneeze at... what a prick.

We live in a screwed up society... sue happy #@!$%#@!s... "get a lawyer" should be this country's mantra.

However, local law will be clear enough - what city/state was it found in?

contractor should be fired now for getting greedy.
he dont own the home.
but id be xraying some walls in that house.
maby its a bank robbers money

 

[allen]

If it was found in the house, the owner should have 100% of the money. The contractor should've never called her and told her. I know it was the honest thing to do by calling her, but money makes people greedy and now he is realizing that.

 

[allen]

A few people said the family whos relatives hid the money , should get the money, wrong !!!!!!! Why am I saying that for? The family sold the house and when they did that, the money became part of the property. So i say the homeowner should get the money. Oh by the way, the contractor and homeowner was friends back in high school. Just shows you, friends and family will do you wrong faster than an enemy.

 

[anteater]

WOW! What a fascinating story! Thanks for bringing it to our attention. It will be interesting to follow up on how everything develops. Somebody is going to have a big tax bite next year.

 

[texan connection]

Considering that amount of Cash could very likely be stolen loot not recoverd, the homeowner and contractor would have been wise to sit down and talk turkey in private b-4 they both loose it

 

[detectahead]

Homeowners get the money! Contractor should feel lucky he was offered 10%. Greed is the word for him. Now the bloodsucking lawyers will work it to there advantage.

 

[Diamond Spike]

Ok this has been going on since 2006.
And the sad part is that the owner of the house and contractor
were friends and had been since high school.
The only way they communicate now is through lawyers.
From what I read he called her when he found it and she came home
And there is some kind of finders keepers law in Ohio.
My personal opinon, they should just split it and and be friends again and be done
with it. But that's just me. If not, neither of them will get anything in the end.

JM2C

Diamond Spike

 

[Skrimpy]

The contractor is a moron. They are not his to have and a judge will find in favor of the homeowner. In the end the result maybe worse for him than just losing "his" coins. Most places have rules about losers of civil cases paying for court fees and the winners lawyers fees. Hopefully the homeowner is representing himself at trial. He should have to pay a lawyer to say "They were buried in MY, MY, MY, MY wall". The really funny thing is the the contractor probably doesn't have any more friends after this scumbag move.

 

[Ricardo_NY1]

The former owners etc are not getting squat. Those bills are rare and worth money today, not when they were stashed. I don't know the exact details but assume these are a few notes (No more than 20-30) that add up to alot of money. Since I am not sure of the law over there, all I can say is the contractor should've kept this to himself if he wanted the money. No need to tell the owner or the world. The home owner of course has every right to claim the money, as it was on her property. Good luck to them both. After the court fees, it's going to be a huge chunk of the profits.

 

[silverfreak]

I think it is a no brainer on this one, the homeowner is the rightful owner of the cash, no doubt about it. The contractor was hired to do a job and finding the cash was no different than if the wife had lost a diamond ring down the drain and they found it. It belongs to the owner of the item and the property on which it was found.
The contractor was not given permission to look for anything.

Now, for a metal detectorist, it gets a bit more muddied, since the owners gave permission for you to detect and the outcome of detecting IS finding items. So, there it might go either way or split if one were to challenge you on what you found metal detecting with the owner's permission.........

Don

I agree with Don 100% on this one. It belongs to the homeowners.

 

[MalteseFalcon]

The contractor is a moron.

If the currency is worth around $500,000 (as one expert said, as there are a lot of rare $10 bills from the 30s in that bunch), then the contractor stood to gain $50,000.

So now, he stands to spend that much just on the lawsuit, and since it is likely he will lose, it is also likely the homeowner will refuse to give him the 10%, and he is going to be in serious debt to a lawyer.

Was he born stupid or did he learn to be that way?

 

[Skrimpy]

The contractor is a moron.
...
Was he born stupid or did he learn to be that way?

Maltese,
See the quote below all my posts. The smartest person I ever met told that to me...and he was absolutely right. I said to him once, "I have a stupid question for you", and he replied, "There are no such things as stupid questions, only stupid people and lots of them". He of course could say these things as he is a very brilliant individual. I on the other hand, have no leg to stand on when saying such things but I say them anyway because I find them funny.