The client bought lottery tickets with his fiancée using a combination of his birthdate, her birthdate and her son’s birthdate as lucky numbers. They played the numbers religiously for a year and a half to two years and then struck it rich with a four million dollar New Hampshire lottery award.
At the Lottery Commission
The couple went to the lottery commission to claim the winnings, but the lottery commission said only one person can claim the award so our client gallantly let her name appear as the sole winner. Thereafter, she promptly dumped him! After not claiming any money for a year he had to sue to get his rightful 50% share.
Discovery
We pulled the newspaper article from the archives in Concord and, sure enough, she had confirmed all these facts to the reporter in the article with a picture of the smiling couple with their winnings.
Superior Court
The client hired the Coolidge Law Firm to bring suit in the Merrimack County Superior Court. The critical witness ended up being the convenience store clerk who we had arranged to fly back to NH from California. We brought in the witness in order to testify that when people play the lottery tickets with a combination of birthdates of both parties, that is proof that they are in a joint venture. Both parties can expect to share the winnings regardless of who signed the paperwork at the lottery commission.
Lucky Winner
The jury was sympathetic to our cause and ordered that half the lottery proceeds belonged to our client. The two million dollar jury verdict we reached was well worth the efforts of a jury trial and bringing in the witness. At the Coolidge Law Firm we work hard for your win.