PASSAIC, NJ — A Passaic bodega owner who won a $338 million Powerball jackpot last spring and his former live-in girlfriend settled a lawsuit in state court Friday in which the woman was seeking a share of the fortune.
(See NJ $338 million Powerball winner and ex-girlfriend in court over money, Lottery Post, Nov. 10, 2013.)
Under the terms of the settlement, plaintiff Inez Sanchez agreed to drop her lawsuit and relinquish all rights to pursue it further. In exchange, jackpot winner Pedro Quezada agreed not to recoup from her attorneys' fees it cost him to defend himself in the case. The settlement provided for no other financial benefit to Sanchez.
The case was settled just as state Superior Court Chancery Division Judge Margaret Mary McVeigh was set to rule on a motion to dismiss Sanchez's suit that was filed in January by Quezada's attorneys.
Had the judge dismissed the case, a distinct possibility given recent case law that has struck down so-called "palimony" rights, Sanchez would have been obligated to pay Quezada's attorneys' fees. The total of those fees could not be immediately confirmed Friday.
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Good! She got smart and realized it was a losing cause plus it saved her a lot of attorney fees.
I agree!!
You have to love those two pictures side by side. Picture one she's in complete jubilation over her new found fortune. Picture two she's saying "what you talking about Willis" to her attorney who just informed her that she's screwed.
Now you understand why women are so eager to get married
Not so sure how i feel about this one. You know, we certainly aren't familiar the dynamics of their relationship, but i somehow get the feeling he's a bit a trickster and she got jilted. Certainly she doesnt deserve anything like half or anything like that. But I would have hooked her up, said goodbye and be on my merry way. My friend Pedro, you got lucky, nothing more than that. A ticket and a dream that became reality. One cant completely believe everything/anything read in the news these days, but he seems to be operating kind of shifty. Best to both of them anyway. Too bad what should have been a miracle win for them both turned into this.
Good luck to both.
Pedro keeps winning. I bet his new girlfriend makes the old one look like a roadkill lol
I think palimony lawsuits are bullcrap anyway. I'm sorry he didn't hook her up with something but palimony should be outlawed in all 50 states.
Get married and have financial security or leave the bum.
He probably learned never ever allow a live-in girl friend to appear at a press conference with you when you are claiming your lottery winnings or she'll think she is entitled to a potion of it.
She probably learned being a live-in girl friend is nothing like being a wife.
JoeBigLotto was right about Pedro. Could you imagine, the varying degrees of emotional turmoil, running rampant inside that woman? It's never a very good idea, to involve lawyers in these types of cases anyway, because it destroys any vestiges of "love clout or love capital", accumulated over the years. It probably could have been better settled in house, but we don't know the rest of the story. Big Money time and time again, appears to be an unwelcomed barometer, to measure how stable a relationship is. Very sad indeed. PEDRO PLAYS HARDBALL!!!.
New Jersey sure has had some nuggets lately.
First we have that teenager * Rachel Canning- suing her Parents for support and now we read that Pedro hit the JP twice.Only in America.
Well Pedro surprised me here by getting a good attorney and also looked like the good guy by not making her pay attorney fees. You know this case cost him more than a few dollars. Sounds like he has wise PR counsel as well. Maybe he will do better with his money than my original guess.
And the case only went to trial because it could NOT be settled in house. Most civil law judges require some mediation between parties before cases go to trial.
Well that comment only set us back 60 years. I think it works both ways nowadays when one party may have more $, etc.
Here we go again... Greed got in the way. Just because you lived with him does not entitle you to his things..including a lottery win. Just like hes not entitled to your things. Law school 101.
Well I said before that she wasn't entitled to anything so I'm fine with this. Don't get me wrong, you live with someone for 10 years and have children with that person, if he had any amount of decency in him he would have given her something. But is she entitled to it? Absolutely not. It simply would have been the decent thing to do.
That being said, they do have kids together so she'll still get a cut one way or another.
I agree. She isn't entitled to anything just because they live together. I think there was a past lottery winner who was sued by an ex-girlfriend and lost, so I don't know how this is different. I do think he should have given her something out of respect for their relationship at least, he did take home 150 million, dayum. I do believe what comes around goes around and these things work themselves out eventually.
The Greed Of Envy suffers a big loss!
Just Say No To Entitlement!
I absolutely agree
I am mixed also. I don't agree with palimony, but these two were together for years and apparently had children. Why they never married is just typical of today's society. I think for common decency, he should have given her something..... unless she decided to leave on her own and thought she was entitled to half. However, if he kicked her to the curb after the win, that in so wrong in my book. I don't recall if that part of this story was public knowledge.
Why people don't marry when they make a home and family together for many years is mind boggling. On the other hand, as my ex-father-in-law used to say to my ex-brother-in-law's live in girlfriend of two decades.. "why by the cow when you can get the milk for free?"
Is 10 years of waiting/hoping EAGER to you?
Leaving can be difficult once you have a child together; hope is often a mean brain number.
Unless, Teddi, Pedro takes: his child and their bagoda/small grocery store business away from Inez too!
I'm glad that Pedro is paying for Inez's two sons to go to college! However, it is odd/cruel that Inez didn't even receive an equivalent cash amount from her ex-lover. Some lover/carer is Pedro (although Inez may have known for a decade of Pedro's foul track record with his older children and their mothers)! Ugh.
Talk about bad timing. If she only would have pressed the issue of marriage sooner, she would have been set for life.
Did he have to give her anything? No, apparently not.
Should he have given her something? Yes, wtf, she's the mother of your kids, you got 150 million cash, duke 'er a nice chunk, buy 'er a nice house in a nice area to raise your kids, don't be a vindictive cheapskate.
I could be wrong but Pedro doesn't strike me as the paternal type so I think Inez will be keeping custody of the kids. And I can't think of any reason he'd want to claim the bodega. It's not as if he's going to bother to keep running it personally and it's not as if it was making them any money.
As for Pedro not being caring, as Judge Judy would say, she chose to make a family with the lout. She picked him. If a man isn't going to put a ring on it after 10 years, a business and kids then she needed to get something in writing. Just because they were living as man and wife, doesn't mean she gets the same legal privileges as an actual man and wife.
If you mean Bud Post, there are two differences. 1. It was his money but she bought the tickets. 2. She said they had an agreement to split the money.
I haven't heard from Inez' camp that she and Pedro had any kind of agreement to share any lottery wins. Her lawsuit is based on the fact that they were in a long-term relationship where they pooled finances and so she should get a cut of whatever he wins since winnings are considered income and they have a history of sharing their incomes.
he gonna git some high price booty
if there are kids involved, then the personal claim for half is over, but the child support case will begin.
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