Hypothetically... I know a guy who worked for a bank in the early 80's before the Texas recession. Then the recession hit, and he was fired. However, since he was a highly regarded member of the bank, he received a 100,000$ severance package that would activate when he hit retirement age. However, the bank eventually went bankrupt and was bought by a larger corporation bank. I believe it was MBank. Could he still recoup that 100,000$ from the bank that bought his bank? Also, what kind of statute of limitations applies in this situation?
It's going to sound really silly...but you may have a hard time finding an attorney comfortable enough to answer these questions. sorry. There are a boatload of cases about the creation of an attorney-client relationship merely from cocktail party conversation.
So you are saying that no lawyer would answer these questions without getting paid? That's cool. Would you even say if, based on this limited information, the situation was worth persuing? If not, that's fine too.
For a lot of attorneys, it's the fear of getting sued in case the "hypothetical" advice doesn't turn out well.
don't know if this is helpful or not, but a "friend" of mine is a trial lawyer here in GA. he answered... "Depends - there are ways to bankruptcy-proof retirement funds, like Delta did with their executives' retirement funds recently. Absent that protection, unless the purchaser of the bank's assets agreed in the purchase agreement to assume all the bank's liabilities for one dollar on the dollar (very unlikely) the hypothetical guy is SOL. Statute of Limitations wouldn't apply, until he hits retirement age, then would be whatever that state's statute of limitations is for a contract claim, usually 4 years."
I'm sure you could find a lawyer that would go after it for a cut of it if he could get it, and cost you little or nothing out of pocket.
Very helpful Omega. Could you ask him just one more thing? If there was no protection or agreement to assume liabilities, is there any chance for any sort of settlement of any kind? Not necessarily for the original amount?
said "unlikely". think that's what he meant before with the "SOL" thingee. said you had nothing to lose though. i think he was talking about what supermac said above. i dunno.
