Take a barber, a handyman and the handyman's sister, add one lottery ticket and $32 million, and what do you have? A lawsuit and siblings no longer speaking to each other.
Sam Haddad and his longtime friend and barber Mike Dettorre won $32 million with a Lotto 6/49 ticket in June 2008. It made for a great story: Dettorre had been cutting Haddad's hair for more than 30 years and the men often bought tickets together, sticking them on the mirror in Dettorre's Old Ottawa South barber shop until it was time to check for a winner.
Lottery tickets were a bit of a compulsion for Haddadthe self-employed floor installer estimates he has bought "thousands" over the years. He even took a couple of garbagebags full of them to Toronto to dance around in when he and Dettorre collected their winnings at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming office.
With them that day were their wives, children and extended family, including Haddad's sister, Leila Nahas. About 35 of them had travelled by limousine down Highway 401 for the celebration. Haddad, who was 57 at the time of the win, says he later gave some prize money to family members, including his sister.
That much of the story seems to be fact, agreed upon by both sides. Where things get murky is the question of who paid for the winning ticket, and who should reap the rewards. Because the fight is still in the courts, neither side would speak about the case, but the facts in dispute can be found in court documents.
Nahas says that she paid $1 toward the winning ticket. According to her statement of claim, filed in January, 2010, Haddad visited her store just before the June 28 draw and mentioned he and Dettorre were going to be playing the same set of numbers they had played before.
Nahas says she asked to split the ticket cost with Haddad and he agreed. She alleges that she asked her brother to put her name on the ticket once he had bought it. She then wrote down the numbers to be played on a slip of paper and put it in her wallet.
When Haddad won the lottery, Nahas says, she assumed he had won with another one of his tickets, because he "had told her he purchased many tickets for the same jackpot elsewhere," according to her statement of claim.
It wasn't until two months later that Nahas found the slip of paper with the winning numbers in her wallet, and "realized she was owed one third of the proceeds from the winning ticket."
After that, both sides agree, things got very unpleasant.
Nahas visited Haddad at his home, stated her case, and words were exchanged. According to Nahas, her brother threatened to ruin her reputation in their (formerly) close family, told her "she was 'dead to him'" and has not spoken to her since. Her response was to sue for a third of the winnings.
Haddad vigorously denies just about everything in his sister's claim, from even being in her store around the time of the draw, to having any discussion about sharing the cost of a ticket or showing her the numbers he was playing. Haddad says there was never an agreement and he has not denied his sister anything, nor did he issue any threats. He does say, however, that his sister became angry during the confrontation and he eventually had to tell her to leave his home.
Haddad wants the case dismissed, and has asked the court to order Nahas to pay his legal costs.
Dettorre is not part of the legal fight, although he stands to lose some of his winnings if the court finds that Nahas does have a claim to one-third of the pot.
Both sides have filed their statements, and their lawyers have completed examination for discovery. The next step is a settlement conference, where both sides meet with a judge.
Lawyers for Haddad and Nahas declined to comment on the case, and instructed their clients not to talk, either.
"We're in the middle of litigation and we can't be doing media interviews," says Lawrence Greenspon, representing Haddad.
The lesson in this for lottery players?
"Group plays are group plays, whether it's with family, co-workers or friends," says Tony Bitonti, spokesman for OLG.
"The key is communication within that group. Treat it as a financial transaction. If you are giving someone money to provide you with a product, make sure you get a receipt -in this case, a copy of the ticket."
sad...sad...sad... I hope they are able to work this out.
a part of me thinks he asked for 'trouble' when he gathered that load to collect HIS winnings .. he and his friend should have gone alone
then the other thing that gets me, is if the sister was indeed telling the truth, she should have calmly let her brother know of the numbers in her pocket and that agreement
but the part that makes it iffy for me is the sister insisting HER name be put on the lottery ticket .. for .50cents? that part alone makes me DISBELIEVE her case ...
if the brother makes a settlement of even $1.00, then I stand corrected .. but I do believe the sister may simply be confused of the days or just a liar
therein lies the beauty of gambling...anyone can be a winner...a respected scientist or a handyman that dances around in garbage bags
If this judge gives the sister anything, I'm quitting the lottery for ever. What did the sister do, give 33 1/3 cents to the brother to go play a set of numbers that he and his friend already were playing? 2 months later finding a set of numbers hand written in her pocket. She should be locked up.
in cases like these a portion goes to the person who put the money/bought the ticket or if they want to split it is fine BUT the person who thought of the numbers gets the bigger share or more than the others because you could had had all the money you want and not win/miss in fact you could had had lots of money and MISS EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE AND OF THESE PLANET LIFE TOO...Well about HAVING all the money you want is an oxymoron...thats the correct thing to do...
now if the ticket costs: $500,000 or $1 Million dollars that is something difficult to get or nobody has then the situation changes 50-50 i dont know....
It basically comes down to one fact: no proof. The sister has no proof and therefore deserves nothing. Even if there was a verbal agreement, you just can't realy on a verbal agreement. Get it on paper. Basically it's a he said, she said. That's what it boils down to. And if the judge awards her any money, I just might quit playing myself.
dont even like to answer posts like these because people make it about race and where i live you should see...
25% to 35% of people´s thoughts PER DAY is about RACE OR GENDER...cluttering people´s mind with junk...
and about the race thing 98% of humans TAKE CREDIT for something someone did in the past or in another country thinking about the race issue, and i am like: WERE YOU THEEERE...see this, EVERYDAY...people take credit for what someone else did who has passed away and nobody approaches the descendants of this PERSON and say, here you go you should be taken care off...
not telling you not to think about race but DARN thing is a pandemic taken up 25% to 35% of people brain ram disc...
worse than TV, TV you can turn it off...
"It wasn't until two months later that Nahas found the slip of paper with the winning numbers in her wallet, and "realized she was owed one third of the proceeds from the winning ticket."
The barber wasn't part of any agreement so half the money is his regardless what Nahas realized she is owed. Maybe the court will ask why it took her two months to check the numbers she alleges was split with her brother for one drawing.
I wonder if the two men who submitted the claim form had any WRITTEN lottery agreement. If yes, it could be important. If no ... stay tuned for dramatic and possibly surprising $$ re-distributions.
This right here illustrates the important lesson of those who choose to pool their money with others....never let another fly in on the soup...it just might drown all of them.
IMHO the sister is lying...I think I would have checked that right away, especially since she accompanied them to the ceremony. I smell garbage...and it is coming from the sis. I guess some people will do anything for "more" money.
I see what you're saying, although legally, you're wrong.
Whoever buys the ticket owns it, regardless of who tipped them off the numbers. Of course if someone gave me the winning numbers, and didn't play themselves, I'd share but I wouldn't legally have to even if they thought of the numbers, I bought the ticket, not them.
If she paid him $1 to go in on it and wrote the numbers down for the winning ticket, isn't it ALL HERS??
Why isn't she making that claim??
He purchased many tickets that day - did her dollar entitle her to the multi-ticket chances he bought with
his friend for that draw? WHY did she only write one set of numbers down and not every single line they
played if she assumed she was in on the whole deal? How convenient to say - hey, I payed for that one,
so where's my cut?
People are sick, greedy and crazy.
I'm NEVER going to play with anyone. I'll go it alone.
"I hope they are able to work this out."
Why would you hope they work it out? There's a chance there's an honest misunderstanding, but it sounds like one of them is trying to cheat the other out of $10 million dollars.
"the part that makes it iffy for me is the sister insisting HER name be put on the lottery ticket"
If you were part owner of a ticket wouldn't you want your name on it? Right now she doesn't appear to have any proof at all. If her name had been written on the ticket it would be assumed that she had an ownership interest in it.
"Whoever buys the ticket owns it, regardless of who tipped them off the numbers."
Ownership of the ticket depends on what the parties involved have agreed on. As always, if there are any disputes it will depend on what can be proven. It's entirely possible for one person to contribute the cost of the ticket and another to contribute the numbers. You just have to be clear that contributing the numbers is valued as much as contributing the cost of the ticket.
"If she paid him $1 to go in on it and wrote the numbers down for the winning ticket, isn't it ALL HERS?"
I assume that the game cost $2, as it does now, with an option to play a combination game for $3. Maybe she figured that even if she paid 1/2 there were still 3 people involved, or maybe they chose the $3 option, so if she really contributed $1 she would own 1/3 of any prize. They seem to agree that she didn't contribute to any tickets with other numbers.
Well said dr, Go it alone.