Pa. man who walked out on girlfriend after $100K lottery win must give her half the cash, court says

A Pennsylvania man who broke up with his long-time girlfriend a week after they bought a winning $100,000 lottery ticket must give the woman half of his winnings, a state Superior Court panel decided Friday. The fact remains that the pair were still together and engaged in a “joint venture” when they bought that ticket at a convenience store in Carbondale in February 2018, Judge Mary Jane Bowes concluded in the court’s opinion. The case came to Bowes' court when Jeffrey Jones appealed a Lackawanna County judge’s ruling awarding Ruthann Colachino an even cut of the winnings.

Jones and Colachino have a child together and were cohabiting when they bought that Bingo Squared scratch-off ticket, Bowes noted. The two “were understandably elated, and loudly professed their shared intention to use the money to leave public housing and buy a home together with the winnings,” the state judge wrote. The next day and cashed in the ticket for $72,930 after taxes.

Then Jones walked out, leaving Colachino without a cent of the winnings. She sued him for breach of contract, claiming the two had an agreement split the jackpot. The county judge agreed with her and ordered and even-steven division of the money following a nonjury trial last year.

On appeal, Jones claimed there was no such deal. In disagreeing, Bowes cited testimony, including video evidence, that Jones and Colachino bought the ticket, one of a batch, together. Exactly who bought the winning ticket is undetermined, she noted.

“Contrary to Mr. Jones’s arguments, his testimony evinces a clear intent to use the winnings for the mutual benefit of the parties,” Bowes wrote. She found that Jones and Colachino “enjoyed a ‘right of mutual control’ over the lottery tickets, as evinced by their inability to differentiate amongst the tickets purchased.”

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/10/pa-man-who-walked-out-on-girlfriend-after-100k-lottery-win-must-give-her-half-the-cash-court-says.html