Case Study | Dreaming of Las Vegas
Dreaming of Las Vegas
Lauth Investigations is excited to share with you a series of case studies detailing the lives that our company has impacted. We’ve reached out and selected our favorite cases, this one being from the Return Assets Division. This case study is told from the perspective of Emilia Tomaszewski, a vital Claims Researcher at Lauth Investigations. For privacy reasons, names have been changed to pseudonyms.
This Florida claim took place a number of years ago. I was able to find who I thought was the owner but could not connect the address. The potential owner was agreeable to receiving a claim agreement for an old checking account, but he had no recollection of the address either. Throughout the research, I became close to the family and my conversations were mainly with the wife, Karen. Her husband, Eric, was suffering with prostate cancer and they were so excited about this potential windfall because they wanted to go to Las Vegas while Eric was still able to. That made me more determined to find the needed address connection.
Racing against the clock
Upon receipt of the claim agreement, I searched everywhere trying to find the connection. As a last-ditch effort, I began scouring old phone directories for the city and finally came across a last name that was identical to the claimant’s with just the letter “E” for a first name. That was close enough for me to contact Karen and I finally spoke to Eric myself. He was shocked beyond belief. It occurred to him that that was where his father lived when he was a young man and the “E” also stood for Eric for my claimant, I finally discovered, was actually a Junior.
With this information I was able to submit the claim to the state and it ultimately got approved. I was so excited when I heard the news and immediately called the family to congratulate them and wish them a bon voyage. Well, there was sad news when I called. Karen was crying, saying the check had come that very day but sadly enough Eric had passed away the night before.
Silver Lining
While Karen and Eric never made it to Las Vegas together, Karen admitted that the money would truly help pay for funeral expenses with some left over for her to live on until she came to grips with the new life that was ahead of her. A very bittersweet claim that I will always remember.”
Although Eric never got to see Las Vegas, he passed away knowing that the love of his life would inherit the money. Our company is happy knowing that there is some comfort in that. When returning assets, we often deal with the descendants of the people holding the claim. Emilia is over the moon at the fact that she got to know Eric before he passed.