Opening statements in a dispute over the ownership of a California Quick Pick Super Lotto ticket valued at $8 million will be made today, starting in the afternoon in Courtroom "O," Pomona Superior Court, 400 Civic Center Plaza, Pomona, CA. before the Hon. Peter J. Meeka.
Plaintiff Arwa Farraj filed suit in February 2000 against Circle K Stores and its employee, Gurinder Ruby, for fraud and conversion, alleging that she had been deceived by Mr. Ruby into giving her winning California Quick Pick Super Lotto ticket to him.
The trial is expected to last 10 days. Ms. Farraj is represented by Browne Greene and Mark Quigley with the Santa Monica, CA. law firm of Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler, LLP. Arwa Farraj vs. Gurinder Ruby and Circle K Stores, Inc., Case No. KC032486.
On December 25, 1999 at approximately 3:56 PM, Farraj purchased her first California Quick Pick Super Lotto ticket at the Circle K Store at 2210 "D" Street in La Verne, CA, and where she had been employed for two weeks. Key facts include:
Plaintiff's supervisor and Circle K senior assistant store manager, Gurinder Ruby, was not in the store at the time she bought her winning lottery ticket as verified by Circle K's own electronic time-sheet records.
Farraj went to Defendant Ruby to verify the amount of her winning ticket. He told her that her ticket was worth a total of $88.00 and paid her the money. The California State lottery confirmed there is no record of an $88.00 winner for the December 25, 1999 drawing for any tickets sold from the La Verne Circle K store.
On January 18, 2000, Plaintiff learned that Defendant Ruby had won the December 25th $8 million Super Lotto Jackpot and that the ticket had been sold from the La Verne Circle K store. Suspicious, she contacted the California State Lottery office which investigated and concluded that the ticket was stolen. At about the same time, however, it paid Ruby the $8 million, amounting to approximately $2.56 million dollars after he elected to receive a lump sum award and after taxes. Circle K received $40,000 as a commission for being the winning store.
As others were making claims on the ticket, the La Verne Police Department investigated the matter, and retrieved the La Verne Circle K store's surveillance tapes to determine who purchased the winning ticket. They discovered that the tapes had been erased at the critical time when the winning ticket had been purchased: December 25, 1999 at approximately 3:56 PM.
Circle K brought in its own loss management investigator, Kirk Luke, around this time. Yet, more than three years later, Mr. Luke has only two pages of notes about the matter and the investigation is still open, according to his deposition.
Browne Greene said: "Arwa Farraj was duped by Circle K and its senior assistant store manager into thinking that she had won four out of six numbers on her lotto ticket for a total of $88.00 instead of its real value of $8 million. Circle K's investigation into this matter has been inadequate despite overwhelming evidence that would affix blame and responsibility on its employees. We will make sure that she gets her day in court and see to it that Circle K takes full responsibility for the actions of its employees in defrauding our client."
Open statements are set for Thursday, September 18, 2003, Early Afternoon.
Assuming Ruby stole the ticket and is found guilty...he has already been paid the money in a lump sum. What will be left to give back? Let's hope Circle K digs deep to come up with the difference.
I believe incidents of store workers telling people their tickets are losers, tossing the ticket in the trash and then after the person leaves, retrieving the ticket and cashing it in are common. Though usually not for the jackpot. A few years ago my mother won $40 (some small amount, anyway) in a state lottery, and when she took the ticket to a convenience store to cash it in, the kid working there said it wasn't a winner and tossed it in the trash behind the counter. She said, I think it is a winner, let me have it back so I can check again. And the kid argued with her! He said it's a loser, why do you want it? Finally she got it back, but obviously she was ripping mad. She cashed the ticket in at another store - it was a winner - and called the manager of the convenience store who fired the kid. Watch out for this stuff when you cash your ticket in.
Check your own numbers twice or three times and sign them before you hand them over to anybody.....even a family member!!
I check my numbers and high lite the winning numbers to be sure they are on the tickets before cashing them it. I never sign the back unless the amount is large enough that I have to file with the state to get a W-G form to include with my tax returns. I don't want to leave evidents that I cashed in tickets and didn't include the winnings in my taxable income. I see people all the time going to a clerk, dumping a bunch of tickets and ask the clerk to check them for winners, this is just asking to be scammed if you have a big winner.
RJOh
Sometimes when I build a stash of tickets up in my wallet and give em to the clerk to check to see if I am a winner, I keep my eye on that clerk like a owl on branch I don't blink, but I love hearing the sound of the machine, when I hit nickels and .... but One day you hit the PAYDAY you get ripped off.....