44-year-old lawsuit ordered to trial

The three-judge Appellate Term ordered the case of Lance International, which dissolved 35 years ago, versus First National City Bank, which has since become Citibank, to go to an "immediate" trial after 44 years of wrangling, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

A judge threw the case out last year, but a lawyer for Lance, which received permission from a bankruptcy court to pursue the case as a means of paying off creditors, successfully argued Citibank missed a deadline for having the case thrown out by 22 years.

The lawsuit concerns the alleged failure of First National City Bank to collect cash for Lance International from a Japanese construction project in the 1960s.

"(W)hile we are not unmindful of the age of this case and the parties' failure to diligently litigate the matter, we are constrained to reinstate the complaint. The parties are directed to proceed to an immediate trial," the appeals court judges said in their ruling.

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