The couple said the bank sent the bills to the wrong address and they have paid up.
Article says the bank sent notice to an address they did not give to the bank. Oops! That's kinda f'ed up
It also says they've had the boxes since 2006. So they should have been well aware that the bank has to be paid their annual fee in order to keep the boxes in good standing.
When they did not receive a bill that they should have been expecting, and had been receiving for the past ten years, the proper thing to do would have been to contact the bank about it. Especially when there is ~9million dollars on the line.
Things sometimes get lost in the mail, and ya gotta follow up on that shit.
To me, it'd be like not receiving an electric bill and thinking nothing of it until the guy is outside disconnected your meter for nonpayment.
As for their lawsuit, good luck with that. Unless they can prove to the court what was in the box, it's their word against the banks, as to what was in the box and what its fair market value was. A simple list of items isn't going to cut it.
Edited to add: the smart thing to have done, woulda been for 'em to have paid the fee in advance for the number of years +1 that they were planning on being away from their primary home. That way they'd know it was paid and they'd have a receipt in case anything went wrong on the banks end. As it obviously did if they sent notice to the wrong address.
Also, is it possible to have the contents in a SDB certified by a third party? So that if anything did go wrong, there would be a verifiable list of the contents and their value.
Does anyone know if such a service exists?
