    
Just The Aunt
Supporter
Username: Auntof13
Post Number: 5460
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, June 25, 2006 - 1:34 am: | 
|
Got this from AOL News. I'd file this under 'unreal...'
$5 Lottery Ticket to Cost Indiana $1 Million
State Plans to Settle Lawsuit Dating Back to 1996
INDIANAPOLIS (June 23) - A lawsuit over a winning $5 scratch-off lottery ticket may end up costing the state more than $1 million.
Indianapolis resident Tom H. Smith bought a $2 "instant win" ticket in 1996 and won $5. But Smith didn't collect the prize until months later, and was told it was too late to get his $5 payoff. Smith appealed to lottery headquarters, saying he had no way of knowing the game had ended, and eventually filed a lawsuit against the Hoosier Lottery.
The lawsuit became more complex when others joined in, saying they also tried to redeem winning tickets but missed a deadline they didn't know about. The suit went to the Indiana Court of Appeals and to the Indiana Supreme Court.
But Esther Schneider, who was appointed to be the Hoosier Lottery's executive director in 2005, said she wanted to settle the suit, which has already cost the lottery more than $450,000 in attorney fees.
"I thought, 'OK, how do we make this thing go away?"' she said.
A proposed settlement filed in Marion Superior Court this month would give Smith $15,000, and the lottery would set up a $600,000 fund to pay others entitled to back payments. If a judge approves the settlement, hundreds of other people could also collect on tickets purchased between 1989 and early 1997, if they can prove they couldn't collect on their winnings.
Richard Waples, attorney for Smith, said his client is pleased with the settlement.
Jim Clark, with Baker & Daniels, represented the Hoosier Lottery. He said the law firm, which received $450,000 in legal fees from the settlement, still disagrees with Smith and Waples, but that he's ready for the lawsuit to be over.
"I would have paid him the $5 out of my own pocket," he said.
After the lawsuit was filed, the lottery changed the way it ends payouts for scratch-off tickets. Each ticket sold now includes a precise date by which players must redeem their prizes. |
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page