Court Rules Woman Out Of Luck With Lottery Misprint
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) - An appeals court has ruled that a woman is not entitled to collect a $500,000 prize because the scratch-off lottery ticket purchased by her husband included a misprint.
On Wednesday, a three-judge panel upheld a ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis against Anna Maria Curcio, whose late husband in 2007 purchased a $20 "Gold Rush" lottery ticket that the couple thought was a winner.
The game involves matching numbers, and the ticket purchased by Curcio's husband included the number one. A number on the ticket that would have been a winning match also appeared to be the number one.
But Wednesday's ruling said a caption under that number included the letters "TH" and a partial "N," indicating that the number was 13 --- and, as a result, not a winning match.
The ruling said evidence showed that the confusion stemmed from a misprint "caused by an ink jet malfunction in the machine that printed the ticket."
The lawsuit raised a series of claims, including breach of contract, unfair and deceptive trade practices and misleading advertising.
The appeals court rejected two of the claims based on the Florida Lottery being shielded by sovereign immunity and also rejected the other arguments.
"The claims are premised on appellant's (Curcio's) allegation that the ticket purchased by her husband was a winner,'' said the ruling, written by Judge T. Kent Wetherell and joined by judges Lori Rowe and Scott Makar. "However … this premise is refuted by the summary judgment evidence, which established that the ticket was not a winner based on the clear and unambiguous terms and conditions in the applicable statutes and rules that were incorporated by reference on the back of the ticket."
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
