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.
I agree, I have never seen a sign in any store that says stay out of our garbage.
LOL!
I tend to agree with ridge,but the law works in mysterious ways.What would seem logical isn't always legal,and what is legal isn't always logical.
"The one who bought it threw it away - Dismissed."
The Supreme Court made a ruling on abandoned property in a case involving search and seizure. Because the property was abandoned the police could use any evidence found against the defendant without a search warrant.
"However, once you dump the contents of the larger trash bin into the dumpster in your alley or you place the trash bin where the trash collectors usually come to pick it up, you have taken an affirmative step to abandon the property."
"The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that cops can search and seize abandoned property. In essence, once papers or contraband have been thrown into a trash receptacle, it is considered "abandoned" and anyone, including the police, can look through it and claim ownership."
http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/criminal-law/arrests_and_searches/cops_search_garbage.htm
You're absolutely right on this one. Lawyers have got to be the lowest of creatures and perhaps thay why people hate them so much. If Sharon Jones has to hire a lawyer to defend what is so clearly her rightful possession then the clerk and the alleged ticket buyer should compensate her the attorney fees.
I cant even believe that the lottery commission is entertaining this nonsense.
Once you dump something in the trash, it's up for grabs. This is the same thing that police & FBI count on when they go through trash to obtain information on an individual, or use disgarded cigarettes and soda cans to obtain DNA samples. Whoever picked it out of the trash, signed it & turned it in should get the money; the store manager's "agreement" means absolutely nothing, and the supposed original buyer threw it away. So sorry, but you're SOL...
If I read the story right, I don't think the Lottery Commission is doing anything. It sounds like the store clerk filed a lawsuit and the court froze the funds. And now the court will utimately have to decide who will get it. The Lottery Commission paid Sharon Jones and considers her the rightful owner.
This similar but different from the case of Willis Willis in Texas. There, the Lottery paid the thief and left it to the courts to decide. Generally, under the law, a thief has zero claim but a finder may have a valid claim, but not always. You hear stories of the Brinks truck door left open and money bags fall out. The finder doesn't get to keep the money.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I hope Sharon prevails. She is honest that she found the ticket in a batch of discarded tickets.
I hope Sharon wins without losing too much money. She deserves it!
Not so sure about that, Seattlejohn...... there was a news story a few days ago about someone getting arrested for taking coupons out of a trash can.
The trash bin was marked with a "Do Not Take" notice taped to it (as shown on news video).
From all intents and purposes, it's asking not to move the recepticle.
I'm perplexed on the first paragraph. The way I read it, it's saying Lisa the store manager got together with herself to agree to make a deal that they belonged to her?
Wha?
I think I know what it means, it's just worded funny.
And I agree, Sharon should get the money. The ticket is a bearer instrument!
Jones needs to sue them both for all of her legal fees, when all of this is over with.
Why should they need a sign? If it's not your property you have no right to take it without permission. Stack's post about the law regarding search and seizure tpuches on that. Here's part of what he didn't quote: "If the police come knocking on your door without a warrant, they can’t use the “abandoned" property or garbage exception to search the trash bins in your house." The store may not care and they may not stop you if you don't ask, but the trash belongs to the store and is entitled to the same legal protections as their other property until they abandon it by putting it out for collection.
Duncan, the woman claiming she bought the ticket may have the best claim to ownership. It was apparently Petriches' attorneys who identified her as the original purchaser, and one of the other clerks has testified that it was bought by Duncan. She says a scanner didn't identify it as a winner, and that she then put it in the trash for Petriches. That may mean that she didn't really abandon it, since she obviously wouldn't abandon a winning ticket.
Since Jones had no automatic right to take trash from the store's trash can she needs to prove that she had permission to take it. Without convincing evidence that she had explicit permission she may be able to prove that she was entitled because it was a common occurrence and the store never made an effort to stop people from doing it. She probably also has to prove that Duncan did abandon it, but not so that Petriches could recover it later.
The store manager may have some problems too, because the trash belongs to the store owner, not the manager. Would anyone be surprised if the owner came along and made it a 4 person dispute?
ive seen people tear up tickets before disposing of them, noew i know why, they where saving everyone the drama of drawn out legal battles.