According to a court document obtained on Friday, August 28th, a lawsuit filed by a man over a rejected lottery payout has been dismissed by a judge. The California State Lottery Commission received a favorable ruling and was awarded over $150,000 in attorney’s fees and litigation costs. The man claimed that his high-stakes poker lottery ticket worth $750,000 was wrongly refused for redemption.
Reported by the City News Agency, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kevin C. Brazile signed a judgment on Thursday officially ending the breach of contract lawsuit filed by the plaintiff James Densley in April 2022.
Densley stated that he purchased a lottery ticket in September 2021, and upon scratching it, it revealed a flush hand. He believed this hand beat three queen cards, resulting in a prize of $75,000 multiplied by 10, totaling $750,000. However, three months later, the Lottery Commission refused to pay out this prize without providing any explanation.
In the court documents requesting the dismissal of the lawsuit, the California Attorney General’s Office argued that the original ticket had been torn into pieces, then reassembled with transparent tape in a different arrangement of the card faces to form a winning hand.
Judge Brazile approved the Attorney General’s Office motion to dismiss the lawsuit and awarded the Lottery Commission $153,200 in attorney’s fees and litigation costs.