Includes video report
A winning $1 million lottery ticket picked out of a gas station trash can has become the subject of a three-way legal battle in Arkansas.
Sharon Jones was at a Super One Stop in July 2011 in Bebee, Ark., when she went to a trash bin to pick up a handful of discarded lottery tickets, as she had done many times before, according to her attorneys.
A program through the lottery commission website allows people to register non-winning tickets for points that they can use to work towards prizes.
"On Sunday, as was a routine, my client and her husband sit around and enter these tickets in the program," Jones' attorney Winston Collier said. "[The program] wouldn't give them points on this one ticket in particular."
The couple realized the problem was that the ticket was not completely scratched off.
"It was, in fact, not a losing lottery ticket and not only that, but it's worth a million dollars," Collier said. "Thus a controversy was born."
Jones turned in the ticket and received a check for $680,000. After the check was issued, the lottery commission began the process of confirming all winning tickets and in the course of the investigation, surveillance footage showed Jones grabbing a handful of discarded tickets from the trash bin.
After seeing the footage, the store manager, Lisa Petriches, claimed that customers were not allowed to take tickets from the bin and that she had a deal with the manager that those tickets belonged to her.
A month after Jones collected her check, Petriches filed a lawsuit against her, claiming that the winning ticket was hers. Petriches also claimed that there was a "Do Not Take" sign on the bin.
"We really don't believe that Lisa Petriches has any claim whatsoever," Jones' attorney Jimmy Simpson said. "She's saying those tickets were hers, but you've got all these people saying they weren't."
Simpson said several regulars from the store are willing to testify that it was common practice for customers to grab tickets from the bin and that that sign was not up at the time when Jones picked up the winning ticket.
"Our theory is that it was abandoned property," Collier said. "Once someone has abandoned it, it becomes the property of the first possessor."
One of Petriches' attorneys, Steven Underwood, refused to comment for the story.
"From our perspective, the person who won is the winner, the person who brought it in," Julie Baldridge, the interim director of public affiars and legislative relations for the Arkansas Lottery Commission said. "We don't take a position on ownership. It's whoever comes to our claims office with their signature on the back."
Baldridge said that legally, it's up to a judge to decide who the ticket belongs to.
A third party entered the equation this week when Sharon Duncan claimed that she was the one who originally purchased the ticket and that the jackpot is rightfully hers. The attorneys are meeing with the lottery commission on Monday to determine if there is any way to confirm the ticket's ownership.
Duncan could not be reached for comment.
The two parties originally involved in the case appeared before a judge on Wednesday, but were dismissed after the judge expressed concern that not all of the necessary parties were present, alluding to Duncan and her claim of ownership.
The $680,000 winnings are frozen as the case makes its way to court, but Collier said that his distressed client already spent some money in the month she had the winnings that she would not have otherwise spent, including buying a used car.
"She is a salt of the earth woman," Collier said. "I recognized her when she came into my office because she used to work at a mom and pop cafe for years and years. She's a friendly person, but she's had to double her blood pressure medication."
The next court date has not yet been set.
Thanks to TheRightPrice for the tip.
Before the Hot Lotto debacle in Iowa,I would say that the person who signed the ticket was the lawful owner.Now I don't know what the heck to think.
The one who bought it threw it away - Dismissed.
The clerk is lying about it - Dismissed.
Sharon Jones found it, signed it and turned it in. She should get it.
I always pick up tickets I find too. Once you throw it away you lost any right to claim it.
I bought 2 quick pick Powerball tickets today. I can tell you which clerk sold the tickets. There will be no controversy. They will just wire about $60,000,000 to my bank account as I hide in a very nice place for a while!
This is greed in it's true form.
I agree with you Ridge.
Give Mrs. Jones her money and be done with it.
Put some icing on this cake, file false claim charges on the other two women.
id feel a bit embarassed to be picking thru the garbage can like that but it turned out lucky for this lady... i always wondered if someone ever threw away a top prize winner like that.
Finder Keeper, losser weaper, if she never told where the trash was there wouldn't be no claimers, give the trash digger her moneyLOL
bwaaa haaaa haaaa haaaaa haaaaa
From the OP:
After seeing the footage, the store manager, Lisa Petriches, claimed that customers were not allowed to take tickets from the bin and that she had a deal with the manager that those tickets belonged to her.
WT2?
What am I missing?
Another from the OP:
"From our perspective, the person who won is the winner, the person who brought it in," Julie Baldridge, the interim director of public affiars and legislative relations for the Arkansas Lottery Commission said. "We don't take a position on ownership. It's whoever comes to our claims office with their signature on the back.
Remember the Texas case where the store clerk told the guy rthat his ticket was a loser and then the clerk cashed the ticket and went to Nepal or somewhere? After that weren't there posts here about lottery commissions asking people a bunch of verification questions? Granted, this case was a scratcher so is a little different, but still.
You have to feel for the person who bought the ticket, but of course there'd be a lot of people claiming to be that person if there was a hint of a payoff.
This is one of the most ridiculous stories I have ever seen. America has gone downhill for sure. Avarice and greed is everywhere which is why our country is in decline. Whoever found and claimed the ticket first, is the true winner.
What a joke!
I'd want to see the store tapes, then I'd want to see the entry times, ticket types and numbers the couple
entered on the website on Sunday. That's about all I'd need to come to a judgement.
HOW does Sharon Duncan KNOW that's her ticket?
HOW does Lisa Petriches lay claim to a discarded pile of tickets by putting a Do Not Take sign on a trash
bin? Do not take WHAT?.....the meaning could be implied as to what not to take but technically, if it didn't
say DO NOT TAKE THESE TICKETS signed by store management....then get back to work and stop tying up
the courts with senseless suits that make judges weary.
Let Jones have it and be done with it. She found it, signed it and turned it in. It will be very interesting to
see what comes of this.
I don't know what is so hard to understand about this. It's Sharon's...end of story.
Throw Duncan & Petriches into the trash. Shake well. Bury them as deeply as possible into the stinkiest landfill. Wait two month's.....
If no reply from either by then.........mail Jones her check.
Let's move on to next LP news story.