/ Cory Doctorow / 6:33 pm Fri Sep 25, 2009

1.7 sextillion dollar suit filed against B of A

A lawsuit against Bank of America on uncertain grounds is seeking nearly two sextillion dollars in damages:
A billion trillion, also known as a "sextillion," could be written as a 1 followed by 21 zeros. I know the dollar has weakened lately, but a sextillion dollars would still be a lot of money. The gross domestic product of the entire world in 2008 was only $60 trillion, so even if Chiscolm won it might be a little hard to collect.

"These are the kind of numbers you deal with only on a cosmic scale," said Sylvain Cappell, who is New York University's Silver Professor at the Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and so presumably can count really high. "If [Chiscolm] thinks Bank of America has branches on every planet in the cosmos, then it might start to make some sense."

Bank of America Sued for 1.784 Sextillion Dollars

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  5. BofA are a bunch of slimy bastards who’ll be second against the wall when the revolution comes(Goldman being first, of course); but it is fairly hard to imagine them being guilty to the tune of “all the money that has ever existed, and then a few factors of ten”.

  6. He offered a settlement just over $200Million.

    People can call him crazy all they want, but he’s done something very important. He’s taken this story, thus the info about B of A’s abuses, all over the nation/world via the news. People who otherwise wouldn’t know or care are looking at this. It’s bad for BOA’s business, they might just pay him the settlement to make it go away. Hey, they can always just ask for another bailout, right?

  7. I see your Hitch Hikers quote and raise you a Princes Bride. “That word you keep using, I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

  8. “…is seeking nearly two sextillion dollars in damages.”

    Now really, is 1.7 sextillion “nearly” 2.0 sextillion dollars?

    The difference is a mear $300,000,000,000,000,000,000.

  10. Womn is a perfectly reasonable spelling, which avoids the controversy over womon/womyn vs. the archaic woman/women.

  13. @#6 SiliconeSunset: he’s done something very important. He’s taken this story, thus the info about B of A’s abuses, all over the nation/world via the news.

    That would be true if his case made any lucid or comprehensible claims about BoA’s abuses. But I gather it doesn’t.

  14. I always thought it would be nuts when quadrillion became the figure used as trillion today. I guess the growth of monetary figures has been exponential so this shouldn’t surprise me.

  18. The problem with this lawsuit is that it detracts away from the seriousness of BofA’s real crimes, which need to brought to light and prosecuted. Not to mention the “too big to fail” problem is *still* around.

  21. Bravo ANONYMOUS #18! You get it! BOA is feeling the backlash from its usurious and abusive ways and needs a preposterous lawsuit flogged by an anti-bank crazy to even up the game a little. Also they have, with great fanfare, lowered the number of $35 dollar overdrafts they can ding you for each day from 10 to 4. They are heroes and deserve all of our tax dollars.

  22. It’s just a bargaining tactic. I’m sure BoA will counter offer 1.2 sextillion and they’ll settle somewhere in the middle.

  25. #21 Having recently paid them $230 in overdraft charges, after calling and negotiating it down to that price, its good to know that the 8 overdraft charges (which include two $35 late fees) were split up into two days. Thanks for always looking out for your customers BoA. (sidenote: the amount of goods purchased under said overdrafts was under $20)

  26. @10

    You’re ignoring the reason why people object to womyn as a spelling. The problem is not with the letter ‘y’.

  27. maybe this has something to do with b of a charging overdraft fees for things like bank charges and overdraft fees. i’ve had my account emptied by them charging fees on top of fees on top of fees. and no, ms. b of a rep, i don’t want a credit card for overdraft protection…

  29. Someone’s made a mistake, and I think it’s the author of the blog post you linked to:

    Bank of America Sued for 1.784 Sextillion Dollars

    A billion trillion, also known as a “sextillion,”

    Dalton Chiscolm sued Bank of America in August for “1,784 billion, trillion dollars.”

    Those three statements don’t add up. It sounds to me like he’s suing for 1.7 thousand sextilions, or 1.7 septillions.

    Maybe he misread the comma for a period? The original article was in Reuters, so this isn’t a “Continental comma” thing. (Is that a real term? I just made that up.) It could be a British orders-of-scale thing, but that doesn’t quite seem to work either.

    The original Reuters article is also confused:

    demanding “1,784 billion, trillion dollars”

    It’s larger than a sextillion dollars, or a 1 followed by 21 zeros. Chiscolm’s request is equivalent 1 followed by 22 digits.

    um….

  30. BoA is crippling our business with made-up “overdrafts” and ruined my credit rating. Does anyone know of a class action suit against them in which we could participate?

  31. Damn, I’m glad BofA isn’t my bank.

    Note to self: stay with the regional bank or switch to credit union.

  33. By amazing coincidence “Sextillion” is also the name of my annual exclusive black-tie-and-ball-gag event.

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