Almost a Millionaire - Twice

My grandmother was cheated out of a multi-million dollar family business long ago. My great-grandfather started a very successful chain of grocery stores in the valley called Valley Mart and left the business to the daughter and son he had with his second wife. My grandmother, and the two other siblings from his first marriage (to Dionides, my namesake) were left out. There is more to the story, but that's general idea.

I also just found out that my family was cheated out of another fortune - this one worth 13 billion. I remember hearing stories about the land my great-grandfather's family use to own in Texas and Mexico, but I had no idea the legal battle that had been going on for 40 years and just what was at stake. In the early 1900's land was being taken from Mexican ranchers, much like land was taken from the Native Americans. One day, some men came to my great-grandfather's property and told him to hand it over to them, threatening to kill his sons if he didn't. There were no papers saying it was his, so he gave the land over to save his family. That land was rich in oil - very rich in oil.

Fast forward to the 1960's. Many Mexican families began legal battles to regain their land and my family was one of them. Our case was taken by a very prominent lawyer named Luther Jones, who was also served as a lawyer for LBJ. When he took our case, my grandfather thought we would surely win. And we did - three times, but the case kept being appealed and Luther Jones seemed to give up - he didn't even bother to show up for the last appeal.

As recently as 10 years ago my dad went to court to sign some paperwork stating who the remaining heirs of the land were. He alone would receive 17 million if the case were reopened and won. But, even if the case were reopened, it would probably be appealed and appealed until some future generation decided to stop fighting it. So, we remain where we are - not poor, not rich, but content and happy with our life. It's not worth getting upset over.

That being said, if there are any lawyers out there who want to look into our case, you're welcome to it! :-)