Plumber’s Lottery Payoff Down the Drain--for Now
The California Lottery Commission must withhold payment on a $100,000 winning ticket because the plumber who won allegedly reneged on an agreement to split his winnings with a co-worker, a judge ruled Friday.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jack Newman’s decision to issue a temporary restraining order is believed to be the first time a judge has ordered California lottery officials not to pay on a winning ticket, said attorney Jeffrey Scharf, who represents plaintiff Rick Mayes.
Mayes, a plumber from Orange, claims he and his co-worker, Melvin Coleman of Garden Grove, agreed while they were car-pooling to work in May that they would each buy lottery tickets on the way to and from work and would split any winnings equally.
But when Coleman ended up winning $100,000 on a ticket he bought at a Hawthorne mini-market on July 24, he refused to split his winnings with Mayes, the plaintiff said in his Superior Court suit.
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