1. On what basis did the estate of Elvis Presley claim the unrefunded ticket proceeds and interest?

2. Present the state’s legal position before the court.

3. Did the court think the intent of the drafters of the UDUPA would support the “windfall” in this case benefiting the estate of the individual whose legendary status generated the unclaimed funds? Explain.

Elvis Presley contracted with Mid-South Coliseum Board (City of Memphis) for the rental of the Coliseum and for personnel to sell tickets for concerts on August 27 and 28, 1977; $325,000 worth of tickets were sold. On August 16, 1977, Elvis Presley died. Refunds were given to those who returned their tickets to the Coliseum Board. Ten years after his death, however, $152,279 worth of ticket proceeds remained unclaimed in the custody of the Board. This fund had earned $223,760 in interest. Priscilla Presley and the coexecutors of the estate of Elvis Presley brought an action claiming the unrefunded ticket proceeds for the canceled concerts. The state of Tennessee claimed that it was entitled to the proceeds under the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act. From a judgment for the coexecutors, the state appealed.

JUDICIAL OPINION

HIGHERS, J.… Although the ticket may have some value as memorabilia apart from its intended function, such value was not the essence of the contract, had no bearing on the original proceeds, and has none now. When Presley died, performance of the concert became impossible, and the contract was void.… The ticketholder was vested with a right to a refund of contract proceeds from the Coliseum as Presley’s agent.…

Tennessee’s version of the UDUPA is codified at T.CA. § 66-29-101 et seq.… § 66-29-113 requires that the holder of the [abandoned] property report that property to the state treasurer. After notice is given … the property is to be delivered to the treasurer.…

The owner may recover at any time no matter how remote.…

The state has asserted that the definition in T.CA. § 66-29-111 is applicable to the case at bar. That statute provides in pertinent part as follows:

66-29-111. Miscellaneous property held for another person.—All property, not otherwise covered by this chapter, including any income or increment thereon and deducting any lawful charges, that is held or owing in this state in the ordinary course of the holder’s business and has remained unclaimed by the owner for more than seven (7) years after it became payable or distributable is presumed abandoned. We agree with the state’s assertion. The refunds in question have remained unclaimed in the more than seven years they have been held by the Coliseum in the ordinary course of its business. The ticketholder’s right to a refund vested when the contract was voided. That right arose and the seven-year statutory period began when Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977. Therefore, a presumption of abandonment as to unclaimed refunds matured on August 16, 1984. The present action … does not qualify as a claim under the statute because the plaintiffs have no legal right to the funds. Any right they might have had was lost when the contract was voided. ……………….