The California lottery argued that the participant who claimed he was the rightful proprietor of two Mega Tens of millions jackpot-winning tickets however misplaced one is just not owed the second half of the practically $400 million pot.
Faramarz Lahijani’s quest to be awarded the complete $394 million jackpot from the Dec. 8, 2023, drawing confronted one other setback in courtroom Monday as attorneys poked holes in his claims.
Attorneys representing the State of California, the California Lottery and the California State Lottery Fee claimed Lahijani’s story didn’t correlate with the information within the case and that he didn’t observe the principles when claiming the prize.
“Cost of a Mega Tens of millions prize with out the submission of a legitimate profitable ticket is expressly barred by the Mega Tens of millions sport Guidelines and by relevant California statutes and laws,” attorneys said in courtroom papers filed Monday and obtained by The San Bernardino Solar.
The California Legal professional Common’s Workplace argued the case ought to be dismissed due to the sport’s necessities, the outlet reported.
Lahijani sued the lottery for breach of contract on Dec. 4, 2024, claiming he bought two lottery tickets utilizing the identical numbers at a fuel station in Encino, California.
He mentioned he had been utilizing the identical numbers – 21, 26, 53, 66, 70, and gold Mega Ball 13 – for many years after his kids picked them.
Lahijani publicly stepped ahead with the one lottery ticket in June 2024 to say the shared half of the jackpot, price $197.5 million.
Lahijani remained silent about his possession of the lacking ticket till Dec. 4 when he submitted a declare to the state lottery, three days earlier than the deadline to say the prize.
He then filed the breach of contract swimsuit on Dec. 6.
“By advantage of his having well timed submitted the primary matching ticket, plaintiff is entitled to the whole lot of the jackpot,” his lawyer claimed within the swimsuit.
In courtroom data, Lahijani admitted to not having the ticket, primarily nullifying his probabilities of seeing the remaining $197.5 million, based on the lottery’s guidelines.
Regardless of the rightful proprietor of the lacking ticket being unknown, the December 2023 drawing featured two jackpot winners who bought on the Encino Chevron on Ventura Boulevard.
The fuel station was awarded a document bonus of over $1.9 million, the most important ever given to a single retailer in California Lottery historical past.
Within the Golden State, retailers that promote a ticket price over $1 million earn a bonus of half of 1 % of the prize worth as much as 1,000,000 {dollars}.
Chevron earned a bonus of $987,500 from every profitable ticket bought, totaling $1.975 million.
A demurrer listening to was scheduled for Oct. 29, but it surely could possibly be canceled if Los Angeles Superior Courtroom Decide Lia Martin strikes to dismiss the case.
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