SEARCY — A pending lawsuit pits two women against each other over a lottery ticket with a prize of $1 million.
One of them is Sharon Jones of Beebe, who presented the ticket to the Arkansas Lottery, which paid her $680,000 on July 18 after deducting state and federal taxes from the $1 million prize.
The other woman, Lisa Petriches, manages the Super 1 Stop convenience store in Beebe. She filed a lawsuit contending that Jones got the ticket “without permission” from a receptacle for discarded tickets that was marked “Do Not Take!”
The lawsuit asks the White County Circuit Court to compel Jones to hand over to Petriches the $680,000, including anything that’s been purchased with it since the money came into Jones’ hands.
Petriches’ complaint, filed Aug. 22 by attorneys S. Wolfgang Underwood of Cabot and James “Red” Morgan of Searcy, says Jones entered the store on July 15 to redeem a winning ticket.
A store clerk took the ticket from Jones, scanned it, verified its authenticity and opened a register to get money to pay that prize to Jones, according to the suit.
While the clerk was redeeming that ticket, Jones reached into the receptacle and took a handful of discarded tickets, the complaint states.
Jones did not purchase a ticket on that day, the suit says.
When Jones got her winnings that day, she left the store, taking with her the discarded tickets she had taken from the receptacle, the complaint argues.
One of these discarded tickets was actually the $1 million winner, which Jones took to the lottery and used to claim the big prize, according to the complaint.
Jones’ attorney, Winston Collier of Searcy, denies in a court filing that Jones removed the tickets “without permission.”
He seeks the dismissal of the lawsuit.
Among other things, Petriches alleges that Jones committed “conversion,” did not purchase the winning ticket and “wrongfully exercised a distinct act of dominion over the property of plaintiff by removing tickets without permission, which were in possession of the Super 1 Stop store.”
Petriches also claims that Jones committed fraud by knowingly making a false representation to the lottery and the public that she was the rightful purchaser and owner of the $1 million winner.
Jones denies the allegations.
According to Collier’s court filing on her behalf, Jones agrees that she entered the store on July 15, but denies that she did so to redeem a winning ticket and denies that she didn’t purchase a ticket that day.
Collier said in an interview Wednesday that Jones on July 15 collected non winning lottery tickets from a trash can inside the convenience store.
It was not behind the counter, he said.
Jones had gotten tickets from the receptacle both before and after July 15 and “was never told not to until she received the lawsuit,” Collier said.
“It was never brought to her attention that that was wrong or inappropriate until the suit,” he said.
The lottery’s staff conducted an investigation of the matter and paid Jones her winnings of $680,000, Collier said.
Underwood, one of Petriches’ attorneys, had no comment about the lawsuit, his office said.
Jones and Petriches could not be reached by telephone for comment Wednesday.
On Aug. 29, a circuit judge signed a temporary restraining order enjoining Jones and her husband, William Jones, from disposing or transferring in any manner any funds received from the lottery proceeds or property obtained from such proceeds. The order was marked as Division I of the court. Supreme Court records identify the judge of that division as Tom Hughes.
Collier filed a motion Tuesday to dissolve the temporary restraining order, saying Jones “never received any notice that a temporary restraining order would be presented to, and entered by, this court.”
The lottery’s attorney, Bishop Woosley, declined to comment on the case.
“We are not party to this lawsuit,” he noted.
He called attention to instructions on lottery tickets that advise the buyers to immediately put their names on the backs of the tickets.
Under the lottery’s rules, “until such time as a name of an individual is imprinted or placed upon a lottery ticket in the area designated for their name, the ticket is a bearer instrument and is owned by the bearer of the ticket,” Woosley said.
Once a name is placed on the ticket, it stops being a bearer instrument “and only the individual whose name appears in that area is the legal owner of the ticket or share,” Woosley said. “The reverse sides of the tickets plainly encourage the owners to sign the ticket immediately upon purchase to ensure that no one else can claim a winning prize.”
Petriches uses the receptacle to collect discarded tickets to enter them in a chance for lottery prizes from a second chance drawing, according to her lawsuit.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/08/2011