Judge won't give bakery workers partial lottery prize

Mar 1, 2013, 6:08 pm (59 comments)

Mega Millions

CHICAGO, Ill. — A Cook County, Illinois, judge on Thursday refused to award a partial payout of a $118 million Mega Millions prize won by employees of a Chicago Heights-based bakery.

Twelve employees of the Pita Pan Bakery, 401 E. Joe Orr Road in Chicago Heights, who have taken to calling themselves the "Dirty Dozen," have possession of the winning ticket from a May 4 drawing that won them the record-high prize.

But another seven employees of the bakery have filed assorted lawsuits in Cook County Circuit Court claiming for various reasons they were part of the group that routinely purchased lottery tickets and should receive shares of the lottery prize.

Those lawsuits are pending and likely to take some time to resolve. To that end, attorney Michael Haugh filed a request that at least part of the prize be paid out now so the dozen people can have some of the money. The remaining money would be put in escrow until it could be resolved who, if anyone, has a legitimate claim to it.

On Thursday, Judge Kathleen Pantle issued an order that rejects Haugh's request. By his calculations, the lottery prize breaks down to $7.2 million for each client if all the lawsuits are rejected. If all the other lawsuits are found to be valid, the prize would be $4.8 million each.

In her order, Pantle said her priority is to "preserve the status quo" until the larger lawsuit can be resolved. Any payouts would violate that status quo, she said.

She also cited the fact that the Illinois attorney general's office argued on behalf of the Illinois Lottery against any partial payouts of the lottery prize. State lottery officials have said they will not pay any of the prize until the courts tell them who has a legitimate claim to the money.

"Given that both federal and state taxes must be properly paid on the winnings and the (state) administrative code dictates how payouts are to be properly made, it would be improper to order a payout at this stage," Pantle wrote.

Haugh had argued the dozen clients with possession of the winning ticket could receive a partial payment of a little more than $5 million each.

However, Pantle wrote, "the Dirty Dozen argues that the numbers can merely be adjusted, any payout would not be in accordance with the letter or the spirit of the law."

Pantle heard oral arguments on the issue in January and said at that time she would rule in writing by Wednesday, although she wound up taking an extra day before ruling Thursday afternoon.

"I've been anxiously waiting by my fax machine for this ruling," said Erron Fisher, an attorney for two of the bakery workers claiming a share of the prize.

Haugh said he disagreed with Pantle's order, which he thinks was heavily influenced by the attorney general's opinion.

"I'm not sure I agree with it," he said.

He doesn't plan to challenge it for now, he said.

Haugh said that as the lawsuits proceed in the courts and more information is obtained during the discovery process, he may make another attempt later this year to try to get a partial payout for his clients.

"I may try to make another request on this issue," Haugh said.

Fast Times

Comments

noise-gate

Moral of the Story: Stay the Hell away from Lottery Pools. You better off all by your lonesome.  No hassles, no " we were part of that winning and are now being shut out!"

VenomV12

Perfect example of why anonymity is bad. If these people are legitimately entiled to a share of the winnings, they could have been screwed out of their share if the other twelve were able to keep silent and hidden. 

Common sense. 

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by VenomV12 on Mar 1, 2013

Perfect example of why anonymity is bad. If these people are legitimately entiled to a share of the winnings, they could have been screwed out of their share if the other twelve were able to keep silent and hidden. 

Common sense. 

so sez Mr/Mrs/Ms blank profile .......

it can be said thar is a certain amount of risk to joining office pools.

but if one is foolish enough to join a poorly managed pool or was unable to cough up the money to play that drawing/week,but exspect to be covered by those who HAVE the money ... those without should just STHU and deal with it

grwurston's avatargrwurston

I can't help but wonder if the other 7 workers were all people who were in the pool at one time and then dropped out at some point. If the current dirty dozen are the only ones who have copies of the tickets that were purchased it should be an open and shut case. That is, assuming copies were even made, which should be a no-brainer for any pool.

But having been in pools before nothing would surprise me. Which is why I now avoid them like the plague.

sully16's avatarsully16

Better to go it alone.

grwurston's avatargrwurston

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Mar 1, 2013

Better to go it alone.

I Agree!   Absolutely, positively 10,000%.

I once joined an existing pool. 10 person limit. Each week a different member would collect the $$, buy the tix, make copies. Since I always played daily, I was eventually asked if I would get the tix every week. I had no problem with it and did it for      1 1/2 years. I would always pass out the copies the day before the drawing.

One day, my car broke down and I couldn't get to work on Monday. Got the car back late Tuesday. The Mega Mill. drawing was Tuesday night. So I got the tix Tuesday evening before the drawing and made copies at the store, I even got a receipt for the copies. Went to work Wednesday and passed out the copies, with a copy of the receipt included. Everyone was cool with it except for one person. His question was, how do we know you didn't just make copies of a bunch of losing tix and keep the winners? Which didn't make any sense since the copies were made before the drawing and had the time on the receipt. Which was only a couple of minutes after the time on the tix.(No body hit the jackpot that day).

I got pissed and said, after 1 1/2 years you're going to question my honesty? If you were that worried why didn't you get the tix yourself Monday night? He didn't have an answer. I then said I wasn't going to get the tix every week anymore and we should go back to taking turns like we did originally. All the other members gave him some you-know-what about it. But  nobody else wanted to buy the tix. So the pool ended. And now I stay away from all lottery pools.

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Drama Drama Drama.....

grwurston's avatargrwurston

Quote: Originally posted by dallascowboyfan on Mar 1, 2013

Drama Drama Drama.....

Got that right. LOL  Just one example why pools are N.G. That's why they aren't worth all the BS

winsumloosesum's avatarwinsumloosesum

If we distribute a partial payment to the orignal pool members they will split town and won't pay the legal bills.  Let's drag this on and on so the lawyers will make a killing.

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

not sure what is going on here but bakery workers called "the Dirty Dozen" makes me Not wanting any DONUTS from therePuke

maximumfun's avatarmaximumfun

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Mar 1, 2013

Moral of the Story: Stay the Hell away from Lottery Pools. You better off all by your lonesome.  No hassles, no " we were part of that winning and are now being shut out!"

wow... if they are requesting a partial payout of the minimum amount they would win if ALL lawsuits are successful and still are denied... wow...

noise-gate is right

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Mar 1, 2013

Better to go it alone.

I agree.  Sure, being in a pool increases your chances of winning because you're playing with more combinations, but I am not sure it's worth the aggravation.  I don't even like to pick up tickets for friends unless they're sick or disabled and can't make it to the store.   It sounds so simple, "Hey, pick me up a few PB tickets tonight!" but when one of those tickets suddenly hits the jackpot, or even $1 million, something simple can turn into a big mess!

jeffrey's avatarjeffrey

Quote: Originally posted by grwurston on Mar 1, 2013

I Agree!   Absolutely, positively 10,000%.

I once joined an existing pool. 10 person limit. Each week a different member would collect the $$, buy the tix, make copies. Since I always played daily, I was eventually asked if I would get the tix every week. I had no problem with it and did it for      1 1/2 years. I would always pass out the copies the day before the drawing.

One day, my car broke down and I couldn't get to work on Monday. Got the car back late Tuesday. The Mega Mill. drawing was Tuesday night. So I got the tix Tuesday evening before the drawing and made copies at the store, I even got a receipt for the copies. Went to work Wednesday and passed out the copies, with a copy of the receipt included. Everyone was cool with it except for one person. His question was, how do we know you didn't just make copies of a bunch of losing tix and keep the winners? Which didn't make any sense since the copies were made before the drawing and had the time on the receipt. Which was only a couple of minutes after the time on the tix.(No body hit the jackpot that day).

I got pissed and said, after 1 1/2 years you're going to question my honesty? If you were that worried why didn't you get the tix yourself Monday night? He didn't have an answer. I then said I wasn't going to get the tix every week anymore and we should go back to taking turns like we did originally. All the other members gave him some you-know-what about it. But  nobody else wanted to buy the tix. So the pool ended. And now I stay away from all lottery pools.

co-workers are not friends and many friends are only friends when it's convenient. sad but often true. learn to love yourself and don't play the fool. people love to have slaves. tell them to get bent.Bang Head

VenomV12

The overwhelming majority of pools that have won have no problems and the fact that so many pools win show that it is a sound strategy because it allows for you to have much greater chances of winning due to the fact that so many numbers and combinations are being played. There is nothing to stop you from playing your own numbers on the side also, but to not join in a pool if you have the chance is kind of idiotic. As long as it is set up properly, even if there are problems, eventually you will get your money. 

If these guys get $7 million each, awesome, even if they get $5 million each that is still great. They can still retire and live very well regardless. 

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