Lawsuit Over Lottery Winnings

Some of the alleged winners of the Illinois State Lottery brought suit against the person who organized their office lottery betting pool. The office betting pool won the $118 million lottery on May 4. However, problems have emerged surrounding whether three of participants should receive their equal share of the winnings.

Jose Franco and Marco Medina claim that every week both claimants would place money into the group’s betting pool. On that Monday, May 1st, the office betting pool won $9 from playing the lottery. The person who organizes and collects the money for the lottery took those winning and purchased the winning ticket on May 4. Usually that person asks for money each day that they are going to play the lottery, however, because an auditor was auditing the business, he chose to collect the money for the lottery a day earlier on Wednesday. That person did not ask for any additional money from Franco or Medina.

Now their co-workers are not willing to divide the lottery winnings, claiming that Franco and Medina did not add any additional money to the betting pool. They claim that they did add money to the betting pool, and the group has a standing agreement that the group would divide the winnings equally among the members of the group. The group is in court to decide whether Franco, Medina, and a third claimant have any right to the winnings.

See Alan Farnham, Million Lottery Win Brings Office Pool Lawsuit, Good Morning America, May 21, 2012.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.