They had this poor guy’s numbers listed as winning for 3 days on their website. Then when he went to turn in his ticket, they were like “lol jk”.
I mean, if I were in his shoes I’d be pissed too, but if there’s a recording of the drawing showing that the actual numbers drawn and the listed numbers on the site were different, then it doesn’t sound like he’d have much of a case. It’s not like the website numbers were the only proof of what the winning numbers were that day.
Of course, Powerball could have generated some good will by paying him something (assuming they didn’t already try and he turned it down wanting the whole pot.)
Mr Cheeks is now suing on eight separate counts, including breach of contract, negligence, infliction of emotional distress, and fraud.
He might not get awarded the full amount for the reason you mentioned, but I think he’s probably got a good case on negligence and infliction of emotional distress.
I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve gotta imagine you can easily make a case that publishing something as life changing as winning $340 million and then backing out would inflict some serious distress. People quit their jobs and divorce spouses for less.
Is “detrimental reliance” in that list? Like others, I’m skeptical about the “emotional distress” claim, but if he e.g. quit his job or bought a bunch of stuff because he thought he was rich and is now stuck with the consequences, those would be legitimate damages.
I’m not a lawyer either, but it’s fun to pretend like I am one when arguing on the internet 😁
Based on the above, I think he would fail at number 1- a mistake of entering numbers on a website does not constitute “extreme and outrageous” conduct. As for point (2) he obviously loses at the “intentional” part, though there is a question as to whether not correcting the mistake for two days is “reckless.” He might win on point (3)- but seeing as how he would need to prove all three elements I don’t see him winning on this allegation.
That seems like some heavy lifting for what was essentially either a human data entry error, or some failure in automation.
I know it’s extremely disappointing, but no one here is really at fault. Clerical errors happen. No process is 100% fool proof.
The most I can see him getting back is whatever he spent as standard preparation for claiming a lottery jackpot, like legal counsel and financial planning consults he may done in preparation. And even then, it would seem like some validation with Powerball was warranted before anything else.
“Emotional distress” is not “made me upset”. It’s “murdered my wife and kids in front of my eyes so now I have PTSD and need therapy for life”.
Edit: To elaborate, see Jane W. v. President & Directors of Georgetown Coll., 863 A.2d 821, 826–27 (D.C. 2004). You must be in physical danger to claim negligent infliction of emotional distress in Washington, DC.
The guy has no damages. He didn’t quit his job over this; he didn’t book tickets for a cruise around the world; he didn’t make an offer to buy a mansion with the money. He didn’t suffer any financial loss whatsoever.
Courts don’t decide whether someone deserves money because others were unfair to them. They decide whether someone deserves compensation for undue financial loss.
I expect him to either lose this case, win nominal damages (i.e. one dollar), or settle for a nuisance/PR amount.
Communicating through official channels “This is the winner!” seems like it’s more of an issue for them. It’s not a 3rd party misreporting the numbers, it was the company itself publishing the winners itself.
Yeah. I wonder what the state laws say about official notification of lottery winners. There’s gotta be a regulation saying how you check what’s official to stop lawsuits.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get something, but it’s not going to be anything massive. A few hundred grand at absolute most - I’d optimistically expect something in the 20-50k range.
What about the people that aren’t able to watch the drawings and have to check if they won using the website?
If Powerball used their website to communicate the winning numbers and they made the mistake of putting the wrong numbers up then that is their mistake to own.
Don’t know how much I agree. They posted the numbers on their official site. And they were up for a few DAYS. If I am supposed to be held responsible for my mistakes, why shouldn’t the lottery board? I hope he at least gets a sizable settlement. The amount of stress they put this guy through has to be kind of insane.
You’re forgetting that the lottery made an official pronouncement through official channels. I believe that you’re entering promissory estoppel here–dude could have spent some money or taken a loan, confident in that money coming. Make no mistake: the lottery wronged and harmed him through their own negligence.
Promissory estoppel has four requirements:
- The defendant made a clear and unambiguous promise.
- The plaintiff acted in reliance on the defendant’s promise.
- The plaintiff’s reliance was reasonable and foreseeable.
- The plaintiff suffered an injury due to reliance on the defendant’s promise.
Assuming purchasing a winning Powerball ticket meets the definition of a “promise,” I’d say the guy has a reasonable argument for points 2-4 but that Powerball also has an argument for (1): that with the winning numbers not being consistently reported, the “promise” was not unambiguous.
At one of the lowest points of my life when i was locked into contract and couldn’t make changes that would better my situation, the lottery was my anti-suicide failsafe. If there was a chance, no matter how small, that life could get better, I had to keep going.
I knew the odds and it wasn’t about winning, just that twice a month I’d buy something that meant I had to keep going because statistically it gave me a chance to change my situation.
However, getting a false win at that time would have absolutely destroyed me.
I used the lottery for the same reason for a long time. Then they raised the price and lowered your chances to win even further.
Also, seeing people win a “$1Billion jackpot” and take home less than $400M after taxes, meanwhile multiple billionaires can be shown to pay $0 on taxes… It’s pretty disillusioning.
The numbers were posted on that website the day before the drawing.
The guy clearly saw those, bought a ticket with those numbers for the next drawing and now is hoping he can get a payout from a lawsuit settlement.
That all depends on when he bought the ticket. If it was before 12:09pm, then he has a solid claim.
Doesn’t look like that is true though, looks like he purchases the ticket at 8pm.
He also just happened to manually pick those numbers as well.
And the Powerball number was blank on the numbers posted early.
I don’t think that should matter. They made the error and they should pay for it.
Assuming the story is true… They fucked up and he intentionally took advantage of it knowing full well those weren’t the winning numbers…and they should pay him anyway?
Normally I’d agree with you on the basis of reason alone, but I think lottery companies can stand being gouged once in a while.
Edit: shows how little I know about lotteries haha