The $300 trillion court judgment

March 1922: Superior Judge J.R. Welch of San Jose, CA ruled that George Jones had to pay Henry B. Stuart a grand total of $304,840,332,912,684.16.

The reason was that in 1897 Stuart had loaned Jones $100, and the two had signed a contract agreeing that the debt would grow by 10% a month, compounded, until paid back.

Jones had then left the state and forgotten about the debt. But Stuart hadn't forgotten, and when Jones returned a quarter century later, Stuart sued him. The judge agreed that the debt was still owed, and by the terms of the original agreement had grown to over $300 trillion.

Of course, Jones promptly declared bankruptcy. But I'm pretty sure the ruling remains the highest court judgment in history. Though because it was essentially a meaningless judgment, it's typically overlooked. For instance, Google AI says that the largest court judgment ever was the $206 billion Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

Jackson Citizen Patriot - Mar 27, 1922



San Francisco Examiner - Mar 2, 1922

     Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 09, 2025
     Category: Money | Outrageous Excess | World Records | Lawsuits | 1920s





Comments
Five days, a ream of paper, and they got the wrong answer!
$261,701,099,618,846.00 is still a fair amount of money, but it's no 304T.
Posted by Dave Hanford on 04/11/25 at 11:25 AM
I just read the note. George Jones should have hired an attorney. They agreed to a rate of 10% per cent. So after 25 years, the note was worth $134.97.
Posted by Dave Hanford on 04/11/25 at 11:32 AM









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