June - Senior Connector

PAGE 6
Happy
Birthday,
Canada!
Claude Richmond
MLA Kamloops
#101-275 Lansdowne St.
Kamloops, BC V2C 1X8
Phone: 314-6027 Fax: 314-6030
SENIOR CONNECTOR
LEGAL EASE by Blair Nixon
The lottery partnership that went sour
“Little money, little law”
Anonymous
The Parliament of Byrdes, c. 1550
Cora Macatula attended at
the apartment of Jean Tessier, 3
days a week to provide home
care services. Jean was disabled
and housebound.
Over time, they developed a
friendship so that in addition to
the home care duties, Cora
would do favours for Jean such
as picking up grocery items
and running other errands.
In March, 2000, Cora’s husband
purchased a $5 lottery
ticket and gave it to Cora. Cora
then gave it to Jean.
The ticket was indeed a
winning one, to the extent of
$11.4 million.
Cora claimed that the ticket
had been purchased for Jean
and delivered to her pursuant to
a long-standing arrangement
between herself and Jean under
which Cora would purchase a
$5 lottery ticket twice weekly
and turn it over to Jean when
Cora attended at Jean’s residence
to provide home care
services. Cora asserted that
Jean would then reimburse her
for half of the cost of the ticket
upon the understanding that
www.seniorconnector.com
they would share equally in
any subsequent winnings.
The lottery win occurred on
March 15, 2000. By the early
hours of the following day,
Jean had determined with the
assistance of her son, Larry,
that Jean held the winning ticket.
Yet, when Cora made her
regular Thursday morning visit
to Jean’s residence, Jean gave
no indication that the ticket
may have won the grand prize.
According to Cora, Jean had
indicated that there was no
winning numbers.
By March 20, 2000, the cat
was out of the bag. Cora saw
television coverage of Jean’s
son, Larry claiming the lottery
prize and responding to questions
at a press conference.
Larry claimed that he had purchased
the winning ticket and
made no reference to the
involvement of Cora and her
husband in the purchase.
A short time thereafter, the
legal battle began. Legal proceedings
were commenced on
behalf of Cora.
Jean, of course, took the
position that there was no longstanding
arrangement as to the
purchase of lottery tickets and
sharing of winnings between
herself and Cora. Jean claimed
that Cora had simply purchased
the ticket in question and had
delivered it as a favour to Jean.
She then reimbursed Cora for
the $5 purchase price.
According to Jean, there was
no agreement to share any
windfall resulting from a winning
ticket.
The matter proceeded to
trial. As there was no written
documentation to corroborate
the alleged lottery partnership,
at the end of the day, the trial
judge had to resolve the dispute
by determining which side presented
evidence that was more
believable than the other party.
The trial judge found the evidence
of Jean to be more credible
and rejected the testimony
of Cora that she and Jean had a
lottery partnership. The trial
judge dismissed Cora’s claim.
Given the amount of money
involved, it is not surprising
that Cora brought on an appeal
heard by the Manitoba Court of
Appeal.
Justice Monnin, speaking
on behalf of the majority of the
Court of Appeal panel, held
that the trial judge was entitled
to arrive at the findings that he
did and that the trial judge
committed no error that was
clearly wrong.
Justice Monnin further
ruled that the credibility of the
two principal players, Cora and
Jean and their witnesses was a
paramount issue to be
resolved. It was the trial judge
that heard the evidence,
observed the witnesses and
analyzed the evidence. In his
further view, finality was an
important aim of litigation.
Absent a plain error, there was
no basis to reverse the trial
judge’s decision. The appeal
was dismissed.
Litigation is always about
winning and losing. In this
case, Jean was the big winner
and Cora was the big loser.
Given the size of the lottery
pot, one surely must wonder if
some equitable compromise
JUNE, 2003
could not in fact have been
worked out between Cora and
Jean. However, that was not to
be the case.
Blair Nixon is a lawyer at
Nixon & Company and can be
reached in Kamloops at 372-
3233 or Merritt at 378-4966.
Visit him at www.nixonlawyers.com.
Kamloops Hospice
Association
2nd Annual
FASHIONS in the GARDEN
June 22 - 1 pm
5500 Kipp Road
Fashion show, light lunch,
entertainment by the river.
Sponsors: Golden Buddha, Kathy’s Closet,
Northern Reflections, Sears and Viva.
Tickets: $15 each
For tickets or info please call:
372-1336 or 573-5739
DR. E. TAKAHASHI
& ASSOCIATES
OPTOMETRISTS
E.M. TAKAHASHI, OD FAAO*
E.T. TAKAHASHI, BSc OD*
Optometrists: (250) 372-7910
Opticians: (250) 372-7232 202 Centennial Building
1-800-663-5189 153 Seymour Street
Fax: (250) 372-3164
Kamloops, BC V2C 2C7
*Optometric Corporation
Show suite
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