A Cape Cod man who bought a winning $4 million scratch lottery ticket but discarded it, said he will go back to court to try reclaim the prize.
A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday after jurors couldn't reach a decision.
Julie Prive, the convenience store clerk who turned a discarded ticket into a fortune, walked out of court Wednesday a winner, but she may not have much time to enjoy it.
Raymond MacDonald said he bought the ticket and gave it back thinking it was a loser.
"Out of principle, I just can't let it go," said MacDonald.
MacDonald mistakenly returned a $4 million winning ticket to a convenience store clerk who planned to enter the loser in the lottery's Clean Fun Sweepstakes -- a contest designed to pick up errant winners, but mainly to prdvent scratch tickets from turning into litter.
"I just hope we don't have to go through another long two years again," Prive said Wednesday.
The Prives have been paid $600,000 so far, before taxes.
A Barnstable County jury deadlocked on the question of whether MacDonald was still the rightful owner.
But 10 of the 14 jurors sided with the Falmouth retiree, enough encouragement for MacDonald to try again.
"I just missed the match and it was a mistake," he said.
The judge who presided over the trial that just ended wants to meet early next week with both sides.
The MacDonald legal team did indicate a veiled willingness to discuss a settlement, though they didn't offer specifics.
There have been so many news reports on this story, however, no one has ever said how Ray MacDonald ever found out what happened (that he gave a $4 million winner to the clerk by mistake)? Did Prive go around blabbing to everyone what happened? I heard that she had her husband go to the lottery and cash it under his name (no surprise there). How was Prive and her husband found out? Thanks
Quote:Originally posted by BabyJC on August 20, 2004
There have been so many news reports on this story, however, no one has ever said how Ray MacDonald ever found out what happened (that he gave a $4 million winner to the clerk by mistake)?
Raymond MacDonald testified that a photo copy of the winning ticket that was posted in the store after the Prives won, appeared to have his "scratch signature."
RJOh
note: there was a similar case in Canada a few years back where a guy tried to prove his finger prints were on the original ticket.
Thanks RJ! If a photocopy of the ticket was hanging in the store, then Prive must have blabbed about "her" win. That was stupid on her part. If she never said anything and kept it between her and her husband, there likely wouldn't be a big court case now. Just the fact that she had her husband cash it instead of herself (if she really was the winner), shows deception.
Did Ray MacDonald's lawyer have the scratch ticket tested for his fingerprints? This is a terrific idea! If I was on the jury and heard that his fingerprints were on the ticket, I would give him (back) the winnings in a heartbeat!
The point here is that he discarded the ticket one way or the other.
He could have thrown it in the trash somewhere and it would have gone unclaimed. How about if the guy at the dump picked it up. Would he still want his money.
Yea the more I think about this story the more it bothers me. It says he gave the tickets to the girl so she could enter them in a second chance drawing. Now did she accept tickets all day long then find out later after checking tickets that she had a discarded winner. Who knows. Anyway if you give something away it doesn't belong to you any more, or at least that was what I was taught. Case closed it belongs to the girl.
On the other hand if she checked the tickets as soon as he handed them to her and she knew he gave her a non cashed winning ticket morals come into play. Still he gave it to her. it's hers this is his fault not hers. I don't see how he could claim the ticket as his if he gave it away. Interesting to see who makes out on this. My guess it the judge is gonna make em split it if goes to trial again.
Quote:Originally posted by CASH Only on August 21, 2004
Any story that has to do with someone winning an annuity bothers me.
Any story about other people winning some money bothers a lot of people, not just you. Get use to it, it happens. Raymond MacDonald was bother about the Prives winning some money that he threw away a chance to win, that was the reason for the trial. If the ticket had remained in the trash and nobody won, he probably would be happier.
wouldn't his signature have been on the back for the second chance drawing? Our retailers sometimes do that in PA, it involves signing your losing ticket and putting it in for the drawing... it is not a PA lottery official game, but rather a retailer-only operation. If he didn't put his name on the ticket, how exactly did he think he would have been notified if he won the second-chance drawing?
If the clerk ripped him off, then he should get his winnings back, but it doesn't sound that way to me... If you cannot check your own tickets properly, then perhaps you shouldn't play...
He was dumb enough to get rid of the ticket, then he gets 0 dollars.... the ticket is the legal document...it's hers whether she knew it was a winner or not!!!!
I'd say she did better than entering that second chance contest!
A similar case happened in Alabama a few years back and was reported on 60 minutes, the TV news show. There was a guy who droved to Florida every week to buy BigGame lottery tickets and since he seldom won much on them he gave them aways as tips to the waitresses at the local Waffle House where he ate breakfast every morning. He never thought that any of the tickets would actually be a big winner but dventually one of the tickets was a $12M winner and the lucky waitress had her husband sign and cash it. She never told anyone that it was a ticket she received as a tip, but her co-workers suspected it was and filed a law suite. It seems the guy that bought the ticket expected a new pick-up truck and her co-workers expected an equal share of the winnings since they shared big tips. The courts of Alabama said since the State didn't consider lotteries legal in their state, they wouldn't trial the case and that was the end of it. The waitress lost a few poor friends and only shared the $12M with her family.
Quote:Originally posted by hypersoniq on August 21, 2004
is it really rocket science to check a ticket?
On the $10.00 scratch tickets, the Mass. State Lottery puts 6 numbers that you have to match out-of-order! That is the #1 problem why people do not see that they have a match when they have a winning ticket. It's too many numbers (6 instead of the usual 4) and they are all out of order! If the winning numbers that you have to match were in proper, numerical order, you would see far less people throwing away winning scratch tickets! I think the Mass. lottery puts the numbers out-of-order on purpose, because they know it makes it harder to see/remember what you have to match and they think there will be a better chance of that unclaimed money going back to the state. I think people should petition to make the lottery put the winning numbers in order.
Any jury that awards this guy any money is as stupid as MacDonald. He gave the ticket away.
I agree with hypersoniq...if you don't know how to cash your own ticket, stop playing.
There are so many other people who play all the time but if they don't win the jackpot, they wind up throwing their tickets away, never bothering to check if they won any of the other prizes. There was a $100,000 Powerball ticket that expired in Missouri because some fool never bothered to check that ticket.
You might as well drive down the street, with the windows rolled down, throwing out cash.
I think Prive knows the winning ticket came from McDonald. But it is also the one and only chance she will ever have to hit it rich, and she wants the money and will stick to the finder's keepers, whoever signs and possesses the ticket is the winner, a letter-of-the-law legal strategy that has so far been successful. So she makes a couple of enemies, and it's not like McDonald is poor, he hit for $2 million in 1997 so how bad can you feel for him?
But if you are going to cash in a million dollar winner and are determined to fight off all other claimants, please don't blab about how you found the ticket. That's asking for a lawsuit like this. So I'm glad Prive had to suffer the stress and legal fees of being sued, even if she prevails. That'll suck a nice chunk of her $4 million right there.
But I don't feel sorry for McDonald either. "MacDonald, a retiree from Falmouth, testified that he plays the lottery two or three times a day, spending upwards of $100. He won a $2 million jackpot from a scratch ticket in 1997." I'm supposed to feel bad for someone who by his own admission spends $36,000 a year on the lottery, has won at least $2 million in the past and seemingly has nothing better to do with his days and his money than sit around in convenience stores buying scratch tickets?
There have been so many news reports on this story, however, no one has ever said how Ray MacDonald ever found out what happened (that he gave a $4 million winner to the clerk by mistake)? Did Prive go around blabbing to everyone what happened? I heard that she had her husband go to the lottery and cash it under his name (no surprise there). How was Prive and her husband found out? Thanks
give the man his money
Thanks RJ! If a photocopy of the ticket was hanging in the store, then Prive must have blabbed about "her" win. That was stupid on her part. If she never said anything and kept it between her and her husband, there likely wouldn't be a big court case now. Just the fact that she had her husband cash it instead of herself (if she really was the winner), shows deception.
Did Ray MacDonald's lawyer have the scratch ticket tested for his fingerprints? This is a terrific idea! If I was on the jury and heard that his fingerprints were on the ticket, I would give him (back) the winnings in a heartbeat!
The point here is that he discarded the ticket one way or the other.
He could have thrown it in the trash somewhere and it would have gone unclaimed. How about if the guy at the dump picked it up. Would he still want his money.
Yea the more I think about this story the more it bothers me. It says he gave the tickets to the girl so she could enter them in a second chance drawing. Now did she accept tickets all day long then find out later after checking tickets that she had a discarded winner. Who knows. Anyway if you give something away it doesn't belong to you any more, or at least that was what I was taught. Case closed it belongs to the girl.
On the other hand if she checked the tickets as soon as he handed them to her and she knew he gave her a non cashed winning ticket morals come into play. Still he gave it to her. it's hers this is his fault not hers. I don't see how he could claim the ticket as his if he gave it away. Interesting to see who makes out on this. My guess it the judge is gonna make em split it if goes to trial again.
Any story that has to do with someone winning an annuity bothers me.
is it really rocket science to check a ticket?
wouldn't his signature have been on the back for the second chance drawing? Our retailers sometimes do that in PA, it involves signing your losing ticket and putting it in for the drawing... it is not a PA lottery official game, but rather a retailer-only operation. If he didn't put his name on the ticket, how exactly did he think he would have been notified if he won the second-chance drawing?
If the clerk ripped him off, then he should get his winnings back, but it doesn't sound that way to me... If you cannot check your own tickets properly, then perhaps you shouldn't play...
He was dumb enough to get rid of the ticket, then he gets 0 dollars.... the ticket is the legal document...it's hers whether she knew it was a winner or not!!!!
I'd say she did better than entering that second chance contest!
Stupidity isn't an excuse!
A similar case happened in Alabama a few years back and was reported on 60 minutes, the TV news show. There was a guy who droved to Florida every week to buy BigGame lottery tickets and since he seldom won much on them he gave them aways as tips to the waitresses at the local Waffle House where he ate breakfast every morning. He never thought that any of the tickets would actually be a big winner but dventually one of the tickets was a $12M winner and the lucky waitress had her husband sign and cash it. She never told anyone that it was a ticket she received as a tip, but her co-workers suspected it was and filed a law suite. It seems the guy that bought the ticket expected a new pick-up truck and her co-workers expected an equal share of the winnings since they shared big tips. The courts of Alabama said since the State didn't consider lotteries legal in their state, they wouldn't trial the case and that was the end of it. The waitress lost a few poor friends and only shared the $12M with her family.
RJOh
Any jury that awards this guy any money is as stupid as MacDonald. He gave the ticket away.
I agree with hypersoniq...if you don't know how to cash your own ticket, stop playing.
There are so many other people who play all the time but if they don't win the jackpot, they wind up throwing their tickets away, never bothering to check if they won any of the other prizes. There was a $100,000 Powerball ticket that expired in Missouri because some fool never bothered to check that ticket.
You might as well drive down the street, with the windows rolled down, throwing out cash.
I think Prive knows the winning ticket came from McDonald. But it is also the one and only chance she will ever have to hit it rich, and she wants the money and will stick to the finder's keepers, whoever signs and possesses the ticket is the winner, a letter-of-the-law legal strategy that has so far been successful. So she makes a couple of enemies, and it's not like McDonald is poor, he hit for $2 million in 1997 so how bad can you feel for him?
But if you are going to cash in a million dollar winner and are determined to fight off all other claimants, please don't blab about how you found the ticket. That's asking for a lawsuit like this. So I'm glad Prive had to suffer the stress and legal fees of being sued, even if she prevails. That'll suck a nice chunk of her $4 million right there.
But I don't feel sorry for McDonald either. "MacDonald, a retiree from Falmouth, testified that he plays the lottery two or three times a day, spending upwards of $100. He won a $2 million jackpot from a scratch ticket in 1997." I'm supposed to feel bad for someone who by his own admission spends $36,000 a year on the lottery, has won at least $2 million in the past and seemingly has nothing better to do with his days and his money than sit around in convenience stores buying scratch tickets?