Lawyer in $315 million lottery lawsuits ordered to pay fine

Mar 22, 2007, 10:00 am (8 comments)

Mega Millions

A lawyer representing three people who sued their co-workers seeking a share of their $315 million lottery win was ordered Tuesday to pay a nearly $382,000 fine.

Orange County Judge Michael Brenner ordered attorney Mark H. Williams to pay the seven lottery winners after determining he pursued the lawsuits knowing the allegations lacked merit.

The amount was the equivalent to legal fees incurred by the "Lucky Seven," who pooled money to buy the winning Mega Millions multi-state lottery ticket, said defense attorney Larry S. Zeman.

Speaking on behalf of his clients, Zeman said they felt "vindicated by the legal system."

"The system did its job and held responsible the people who brought these baseless claims," Zeman said.

Williams was not in court when the judge imposed the sanction. An attempt to reach him at his Long Beach office was unsuccessful.

Within the last 30 days, Brenner dismissed lawsuits brought by Williams on behalf of three co-workers who claimed they deserved a share of the jackpot because of an oral agreement that everyone would be included whenever they pooled their money to buy tickets.

A lawsuit filed by a fourth co-worker also was dismissed.

The defendants — six lab technicians and a receptionist at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Garden Grove — contend it was their first time they took part in the office pool.

Each put in $3 for 21 tickets. With the winning ticket, each took home a lump sum payment of about $20 million.

The Nov. 15 jackpot was the second largest in state history and one of the largest in the United States.

AP

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RJOh's avatarRJOh

I would like to see more such decisions handed down, maybe it would stop people with fruitless claims suing lottery winners or trying to black-mail them into a settlement to avoid the additional expense and delay of going to court.

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Mar 22, 2007

I would like to see more such decisions handed down, maybe it would stop people with fruitless claims suing lottery winners or trying to black-mail them into a settlement to avoid the additional expense and delay of going to court.

I Agree!

Raven62's avatarRaven62

This one is for the History Books: They Dismissed the Lawsuit and they Fined the Attorney! Thumbs Up

Jill34786's avatarJill34786

The judge should have also fined the 4 co-workers who brought up the suit. Attaching a portion of their wages would have been fair as well as sweet justice.

CA LotteryGuy

The item in the article I found very interesting was that the defendants ... contend it was their first time they took part in the office pool.  Therefore how it would have been very difficult to prove there was an  oral agreement that everyone would be included whenever they pooled their money to buy ticket.  That may have been why the judge took the action he did.  Had there been a history of purchases with a patttern of activity developed, it might have been different.

konane's avatarkonane

Totally awesome precedent in both regards ..... hope it's the beginning of a national trend which eliminates frivolous lawsuits of all types.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by Jill34786 on Mar 22, 2007

The judge should have also fined the 4 co-workers who brought up the suit. Attaching a portion of their wages would have been fair as well as sweet justice.

Unless their lawyer included the phrase "I don't get paid unless you get paid" in his contract, they still have to come up with some money to pay him.

HiYoSilver

Too bad this is not done in most lawsuits where people are sued needlessly. Make the loser pay the legal fees and you would see a 90% drop in lawsuits over night.

The same thing should happen if you are accused of a crime and acquitted. Had a friend accused of getting kickbacks for construction jobs. It cost him over 20 thousand to defend himself and then the case was dropped because the company had made a mistake. He couldn't sue to recover his money because it was a government agency that initiated the claim.

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