Put on your law school exam hats, ladies and gentlemen. It's
time for a hypothetical.
On August 17, 1981, at a time when CDs were paying 15.55%, Woody
Clark deposited $10,000 in a three-year Certificate of Deposit at
the Bank of Bug Tussle. A few years later, the Bank of Bug Tussle
merged into another bank which eventually was acquired by Your
Bank. Mr. Clark showed up at Your Bank's branch in 2014 with
his original Certificate and said he was ready to withdraw his
money. By his calculations, even without compounding Mr. Clark
believes Your Bank owes him $51,315 in interest, in addition to his
original $10,000 deposit.
Your Bank has no record that Mr. Clark has ever been its
customer. The records of the Bank of Bug Tussle, all of which were
paper, were discarded several mergers ago, and Your Bank's
branch in Bug Tussle has been closed for many years.
