Heir Sues Fla. City Over 147-Year-Old Promissory Note, Claiming $22.7M Due
In 1861, during the early years of the Civil War, the city of Tampa, Fla., apparently ran short of cash. So officials borrowed the then-significant sum of $299.58 from storekeeper Thomas Pugh Kennedy, giving him a promissory note in return.
Now, 147 years later, Kennedy’s great-granddaughter, Joan Kennedy Biddle, 77, has sued to collect on the note, which she says has never been repaid and now, with interest, is worth $22.7 million, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
Others, including the city, have a different view. Even if the statute of limitations doesn’t apply (Biddle’s lawyer says no limitations statute existed at the time the promissory note was issued), the doctrine of laches will, predicts attorney John Grandoff. He apparently is not representing any of the parties to the litigation.
James Purdy, who represents Biddle, filed the lawsuit in the Hillsborough Circuit Court.
