Ohio man sues for share of $99M lottery jackpot

Comment #53

rdgrnr — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 16:31:08 GMT

I have a different take on that.

I'd prefer to have the option to join a pool if I so desired or not join one if I don't.

We already have too many laws written by politicians telling us what we can or can't do.

Freedom is always the best choice in a simple matter like this.

Comment #52

RJOh — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 03:29:34 GMT

Make it a law that a winning ticket can only be claimed by one individual.

That was a rule in Ohio and many other states years ago but it didn't stop people from forming lottery pools. It just made one person responsible for all the taxes which was generally more on prizes less than a million dollars than it would be divided up among all the winners. It's still the rules for amounts of $10,000 or less in many states today.

Comment #51

jjtheprince — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:22:53 GMT

Lottery pools should just be illegal. They cause a lot of problems it's better to see just one person win.

Make it a law that a winning ticket can only be claimed by one individual.

Comment #50

kalikgirl — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 01:47:41 GMT

What a sad story Why sue when you didnt make any contributions?? I mean was thee a contract that stated funds were to be extracted if persons were unable to pay for some reason or the other

Comment #49

haymaker — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 23:46:49 GMT

thats interesting,i know a guy that said i would litigate, cause it would't cost me anything

same guy that told me when they announce me the winner i'gonna say it's the first ticket i bought in my life

Comment #48

haymaker — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 23:37:15 GMT

i guess the 2nd S applies to me that was supposed to be.

K.eep

I.t.

S.imple.

S.tupid.

Comment #47

PHILLIESPHAN — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:32:18 GMT

The guy deserves nothing. No one hears hide nor hair of him in 3 months and the day after the win he comes beboppin in. Please.

Comment #46

KY Floyd — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:10:43 GMT

You can see it however you want, but membership is always based on the rules of the pool. It seems pretty clear from the article that all parties agree that membership in this pool was at least on a monthly basis rather than a per drawing basis. If the guy who's suing is telling the truth and the group previously covered for people who weren't at work for various reasons that creates a precedent that may well be correctly interpreted as part of the pool's contract. If the pool kept small winning... [ More ]

Comment #45

Coin Toss — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:16:53 GMT

dablock23

just give the Guy something people...................DONT GET CURSED..............HE DIDNT CONTRIBUTE FOR THE MONTHS THAT THEY DIDNT HIT AND HE DIDNT COMPLAIN.........

Give him sonething for what? Of course he didn't complain for the months he didn't cough up and they didn't hit.

But when they did hit he reappears and says, Where's mine? If there's any curse involved he's putting a curse on himself for trying to pull such a stunt, wanting in after-the-fact.

Anyone who doesn... [ More ]

Comment #44

OldSchoolPa — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:00:48 GMT

It is now official...this twit heads story has been aired on MSNBC (the absolutely worst network). I still stand by thought that this guy deserves not even a red cent.

Comment #43

surimaribo24 — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:46:09 GMT

verrry well said .

also theres a video outhere on aol about this and the attornity of the coworkers saying that the coworkers did ask him while he was out of work if he would like to play through that time and he clearly said no .

is a money game . moral of the story lotterypool sucks sss. best thing play individualy to prevent all these drama s

Comment #42

dablock2k3 — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:49:13 GMT

just give the Guy something people...................DONT GET CURSED..............HE DIDNT CONTRIBUTE FOR THE MONTHS THAT THEY DIDNT HIT AND HE DIDNT COMPLAIN.........THREE MONTHS...COME ON PEOPLE BE REAL........THATS LIKE ME PLAYING THE LOTTERY FOR 20 YEARS AND MY NUMBER COMES OUT THE DAY I DECIDE NOT TO PLAY????? DO YOU THINK THE LOTTERY GONNA PAY ME?......THIS IS A MORAL ISSUE AND THE COURT WILL THROW IT OUT..ITS UP TO THE PEOPLE IN THE POOL...NOT THE COURT.

Comment #41

HaveABall — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:02:44 GMT

Yep, as he told and you mentioned, those 5 months paid on behalf of another pool member previously, PLUS the monies that he paid previously for other pool members previously definitely make a good evidence for the Judge being forced to act as done, include him into 1/23 of the payment of the lump-sum payouts from the Ohio Lottery Headquarters!

Though, really, here is a man, knows it's his last day at work before 'sick-leave', he has pre-scheduled surgery and spoken with the surgeon; therefore... [ More ]

Comment #40

haymaker — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:18:43 GMT

if you're gonna do pools this is the only way to go.call it the kiss system.

Kiss.

It.

Simple.

Stupid.

Comment #39

GYM RICE — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:34:37 GMT

There have been more people that have quit lottery pools then are playing in them. This guy seems to be one of the people who quit playing. I'm guessing on the two months that he didn't pay, he didn't bother seeing what the pools numbers were for those drawings. And it wasn't until the jackpot that he came forward.

Comment #38

Jamesd911 — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:08:36 GMT

Exactly, If this judge allows people to get money this way then I could complain about someone I dont know winning from the same machine ive been playing at by making the argument, I've been buying numbers on this machine for the past 10years and I should get part of that money.

It sucks for this guy but he did not pay for THREE months!, one month maybe he could have gotten away with but there were others who lost out as well.

What it comes down to is self intitlement(sp?) and Im sur... [ More ]

Comment #37

Guru101 — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:58:32 GMT

This guy doesn't deserve a penny. The way I see it, if you put money in for a drawing, you're in for THAT drawing. You want in next time? You gotta pay again. Pool membership is on a per drawing basis.

Comment #36

Coin Toss — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:59:33 GMT

From the OP:

Hairston contends that every month for eight years he pitched $5 into a lottery pool with co-workers at the KraftMaid company in Middlefield. While recuperating from a back injury, however, he failed to make contributions for lottery drawings in June, July and August.

Unfortunately for Hairston, the KraftMaid group picked the correct six numbers on a Mega Millions drawing on Aug. 5. After taxes and cash option costs, each member of the group stood to receive about $2 million.

Comment #35

Dollar419 — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:57:21 GMT

Everyone in that lottery pool should feel very blessed to win this amount of money and it is obvious lottery karma played on part because the minute you don't play for whatever reason, is the very day you win big. In my opinion, he should be able to share in the jackpot and receive the $2 million. I hope the courts will give it to him because I don't understand why they contributed for one of the other lottery players who missed playing and not for him. It doesn't sound very fair, if this was on... [ More ]

Comment #34

winwi5 — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:34:38 GMT

I'm sorry, however I would not give him anything do you know how many people will use this bogus excuse.

He did not pool for 3 months he is not entitled to any winnings even if he was out of work it would not have hurt

him to contact someone in the group. The group in ny that won some months ago didn't have this issue when their co-worker did not want to

play and they all won he just made a statement and said they are all good people. I won $100,000.00 7 yrs ago with a group and we almo... [ More ]

Comment #33

RJOh — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:50:32 GMT

That all sounds fine until you consider there were other co-workers who contributed to the pool from time to time whenever they were around when someone was collecting money but didn't the month they won. What about them? The pool wasn't a unique group of co-workers, the rule seems to have been anyone who paid was in and anyone who didn't wasn't, no one was obligated to pay every month to be in it the next time around.

Comment #32

malie10 — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:13:30 GMT

Bad idea. I have 32 coworkers that we usually pool when something is over $100M. I am always the one to collect, put in for missing people, make copies and play the tickets. I always have to put in $50 or $80 to cover people, and usually don't get paid back until the drawing is over and we had lost. So now I only play with 2 coworkers and we play all of the lottery games, same numbers, twice a day in PA for a week at a time. No more missing money and I rather split 3 ways than 32 ways. *I think... [ More ]

Comment #31

Jamesd911 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:37:44 GMT

He didn't pay, tough luck for him. 22 people is alot of people to deal with. It wasnt like a 4 person lotto pool where people would be filthy rich.

If he was a friend of mine I may give him money but the moment I found out he was trying to sue then he could kiss my butt.

Comment #30

GiveFive — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:45:59 GMT

You might think your co-workers are nice people, but when money is involved, they'll back stab you in a heartbeat. Truer words were never spoken.

But if you think your co-workers are bad when it comes to money being involved, your own family will backstab you when it comes down to money. I was the executor of my late mother's estate. I saw first hand how money can do funny things to even your blood relatives. And by 'blood relatives', I mean your brother(s) or sister(s). I aint talkin' your... [ More ]

Comment #29

TheRightPrice — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:38:34 GMT

Comment #28

OldSchoolPa — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:33:24 GMT

This right here represents what is wrong with this country...that ENTITLEMENT attitude. Just because a worker works for a company for X amount of years, that worker thinks he/she is a part of the company and is owed something. If you don't own shares of a company, the company only owes you what it is contractually bound to pay you for labor and benefits, as applicable. Just because a person plays the lottery in a pool for X amount of years, but was not contractually IN when the numbers hit, that... [ More ]

Comment #27

TheRightPrice — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:18:30 GMT

yet another story of in CA of a pool that won 315 million in Megamillions. A co-worker sued claiming he/she was part of the pool. After a 1.5 years of litigation, the case was dismissed.

Comment #26

dpoly1 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:34:16 GMT

I hope all of the future big winners are individuals for at least a year

Comment #25

TheRightPrice — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:22:11 GMT

Right now on The Lottery Changed My Life shows 15 co-workers that won 207 million in the Ohio Lottery.

They were sued by 3 other co-workers

Upon investigation, the 3 had to drop their lawsuit due to lack of proof that they were ever in the pool.

Beware folks, mney brings out the worst in peple.

Keep records, get your agreement notarized. Players beware.

Comment #24

RJOh — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:01:42 GMT

Why didn't he just contact someone in the group to make sure he was covered?

He was money ahead until they won. Besides, he was probably buying tickets on his own and had he won he wouldn't be sharing it with his ex-coworkers who have faithfully hung with him for eight years.

Comment #23

jarasan — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:57:35 GMT

Go alone best policy IMHO.

Comment #22

LottoGuyBC — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:44:30 GMT

true dat

Comment #21

Win$500Quick — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:37:42 GMT

A perfect example of why I go it alone. Money make people do crazy things. It is win-win for the lawyers.

Comment #20

konane — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:18:17 GMT

Comment #19

bushy5588 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:13:01 GMT

I would recommend a salery deduction policy.

Comment #18

sully16 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 11:38:49 GMT

Paper and ink people.

Comment #17

Starr920 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:25:48 GMT

On one occasion, the group made payments on behalf of a missing member for five months while she was on medical leave, the lawyer said. Hairston also covered for an absent co-worker with money out of his own pocket. ...... She denied that special provisions were made in the past for absentee members of the pool, or that emailed reminders were sent to other members but not to Hairston, as he claims in the lawsuit.

Very shady behaviour on both sides but that's what money will do to some people... [ More ]

Comment #16

joshuacloak — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 05:17:07 GMT

i my self never play in a group

but if i was member of this group, and someone who didn't help pay for the tickets that drawing tryed to claim, them, their be no lawsuit, their be a dead body. of the person trying to do theft

its very simple, you dont buy a ticket you dont win

you ether buy a ticket or helped via buying into a group buy, etc

he did not play,he does not win

seeing reports of countless lottery winners being bugged by family, friends, etc on lottery shows,... [ More ]

Comment #15

surimaribo24 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 02:43:29 GMT

hahahhaah rdg i know you will .

Comment #14

rdgrnr — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 02:24:10 GMT

You know I'm gonna have to getcha fer that some day suri. lol

They ain't no hillbillies in Ohio anyway. Thems all hicks up there.

Comment #13

surimaribo24 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:59:47 GMT

this is cruel sht... i mean all those people who won the money they couldnt think like a dmn human being and give the guy something . im sure he would be happy with it and wouldnt bother doing the lawsuit . but beside that who knows whats the real story is . money change people in a split second . another case of hillbillys

Comment #12

Stack47 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:44:52 GMT

While recuperating from a back injury, however, he failed to make contributions for lottery drawings in June, July and August.

Tough call on this one because if these guys really were friends, at least one would contacted him just to see how he was doing. Maybe it will come out in court that he was asked to continue playing and declined. A 1/22 share isn't that much more than a 1/23 so there has to be a the rest of the story .

Comment #11

TheRightPrice — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:08:14 GMT

Like I said before.

Comment #10

dpoly1 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:51:05 GMT

If you haven't payed, you haven't played !!! This is why I never play in a lottery pool !

I have won $3 in each of the last 3 Powerball Drawings ! Maybe my recent dream of winning the jackpot is just around the corner

Comment #9

rdgrnr — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:35:16 GMT

Maybe I'm a softy with this kinda stuff but I'd be in favor of giving the guy a share if I was in the group.

Especially if he was putting his money in faithfully for 8 years until he went in the hospital and was a friend on top of it.

I think cutting him out would be a rotten thing to do at this point.

You don't cut your friends loose like that over money.

Comment #8

acehigh$ — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:14:29 GMT

give the man his money

Comment #7

redhot7 — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 23:49:10 GMT

Sorry, if you don't pay, you are not in the pool. And if you are not in the pool, you don't get to collect the money.

Comment #6

RJOh — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 23:43:04 GMT

Running a lottery pool is worst than running a small business, now participants expect to be covered if injured, sick or become unemployed, some employers don't offer those kinds of benefits.

Comment #5

JWBlue — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 23:26:44 GMT

I don't think there is a problem with lottery pools. They need to be run correctly.

I would put the rules in writing. There would be a deadline for submitting the money for tickets.

There would be not be a provision for paying for people who are absent that day of work and can not pay the money out of their own pcoket.

I would also have the rules state can not sue if they do not play that week, and they do not win.

Comment #4

TheRightPrice — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:47:53 GMT

If you do a search on LP for Lttery Pol Sue and there is story after story after of this happening.

Comment #3

TheRightPrice — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:57:06 GMT

I am sorry but Lottery Pools are a bad idea. This keeps hapening over and over again.

You might think your c-workers are nice people, but when money is involved, they'll back stab you in a heartbeat.

Warning to all lottery pools out there, put whatever policy you come -up with in writing and get it notarized.

Comment #2

time*treat — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:40:03 GMT

The group's unwritten policy ... -- well right there's the problem.

Comment #1

Sherita — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:30:42 GMT

Reminds me of that ol' saying 'You win some and you loose some.' I hope that he has good proof

Ohio man sues for share of $99M lottery jackpot

Lottery Post — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:24:34 GMT

An employee of a Geauga County cabinetry company has sued 22 of his co-workers for denying him a share of a $99 million lottery jackpot.

And, last week, a judge ordered the Ohio Lottery Commission to set aside about $2 million until Edward Hairston's claim is resolved in a trial.

Hairston contends that every month for eight years he pitched $5 into a lottery pool with co-workers at the KraftMaid company in Middlefield. While recuperating from a back injury, however, he failed to make contr... [ More ]