Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

“Sister suing brother for a third of his $32M lotto jackpot”

An old, old story, as sudden riches furnish grounds for competing stories about what happened. The two aren’t speaking now. [Toronto Sun; many stories about disputes over lottery tickets are found at our lottery tag]

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2 Comments

  • The Toronto Sun’s headline is inaccurate. Actually, what is happening is that a lotto winner’s sister is playing Jury Lotto.

    The brother and his barber played the same number for years. They’d buy a ticket from the same store located near the barbershop, using the same numbers, and put it on the barber’s mirror. And, they kept the old tickets. When they won, in June 2008, they split the $32 Million. The sister also sold lotto tickets at her shop. Her claim is that she gave her brother $1 of the $3 cost of the ticket, and wrote the number on a piece of paper. She alleges she didn’t check the number until it fell from her wallet in August, after the brother and his barber had claimed the winnings (and brought the bags full of their old tickets with the same number). She accompanied her brother, and the barber and the bags of old tickets in a limo when the winners went to collect. That is why the sister says that when she was interviewed by Lotto officials she failed to claim an interest in the winnings. (The common old tale of “I forgot I’d won 1/3 of over $30 Million. It happens all the time. See, as proof, here’s where I wrote the number on the back of a grocery list. I’m just so busy that my $10 Million just slipped my mind.”)

    So, she is seeking 1/3 of the $32 solely from her brother’s 1/2. Why the brother’s barber wasn’t named as a defendant isn’t clear. What is clear is that a jury will decide the winner — a literal game of Jury Lotto.

    • By wfjag

  • In the States, contracts about gambling are not enforceable. The sister would have a claim for the buck but not for the winnings in the States.

    Is Canada different?