LITTLE ROCK — Arkansans will never know who was the rightful owner of the $1 million lottery ticket that a woman tossed into a Beebe convenience store’s trash bin.
The four people who claimed they were entitled to the money reached a confidential settlement Friday, ending a 15-month legal fight, attorneys for the parties said.
Attorneys James Simpson Jr. and James “Red” Morgan, both of Searcy, declined to disclose the terms of the settlement.
“It is resolved, and we are very happy with the settlement,” said Simpson, who represents Sharon Jones of Beebe. On July 18, 2011, Arkansas’ lottery gave her a $680,000 check — her aftertax share of the prize — after she presented the winning ticket.
But others soon stepped up to insist the money was theirs.
Simpson said Jones’ settlement is with Lisa Petriches, manager of the Super 1 Stop store in Beebe; store owner Luay Dajani and Sharon Duncan of Beebe.
Duncan is the person who says she purchased the ticket and threw it away after failing to realize that it was a winner.
Jones is the customer who scooped up a handful of discarded tickets from the trash bin and later discovered the ticket was a winner.
Morgan, who represents Duncan, Petriches and Daja- ni, summed up the settlement this way: “We are happy, and they are happy, and it’s a done deal.”
Petriches filed a lawsuit against Jones Aug. 22, 2011, contending that Jones got the ticket “without permission” from a receptacle for discarded tickets that was marked “Do Not Take.”
Petriches claimed that the trash bin and its contents were her personal property. She asked a judge to compel Jones to hand over to Petriches the $680,000, including anything that’s been purchased with it since the money came into Jones’ hands.
But Simpson told White County Circuit Judge Thomas Hughes in January that Petriches’ lawsuit is merely a case of “envy and wishful thinking.” Simpson explained that Jones grabbed a handful of tickets out of the ticket bin and took them home and discovered one of them was a $1 million winner after it was completely scratched off.
But Morgan told Hughes that Duncan purchased the ticket at the store and transferred it to Petriches by putting it into a ticket bin there for Petriches. Duncan testified that she wouldn’t have put the winning ticket in the bin if she knew it was the winner.
In court, Jones testified that she saw no “Do Not Take” sign when she took discarded tickets from a trash can below the checkout counter, and she didn’t believe that she needed permission to take them.
After hearing from two witnesses, Hughes told the attorneys in January that it was possible that neither Petriches nor Jones would win the case. Then, Duncan and Dajani joined the suit.
On May, 1, Hughes ruled that Duncan is entitled to the prize money because Jones didn’t meet her burden of proving with a preponderance of the evidence that Duncan abandoned the right to claim the prize money.
After Hughes’ ruling, Jones’ attorneys said they intended to appeal.
But about three weeks later, Hughes threw out his May 1 ruling awarding the prize to Duncan and recused himself from the new trial.
Hughes wrote that the court’s impartiality “might reasonably be questioned in a new trial of this case” in view of “repeated attacks made by ... Simpson ... against the integrity of this court.”
But Simpson said he had merely filed a motion for Hughes to recuse and denied acting unprofessionally.
A jury trial had been scheduled to begin next week before White County Circuit Judge Craig Hannah.
But Simpson said settlement negotiations “heated up” on Thursday afternoon, and Hannah signed an order of dismissal for the lawsuit Friday.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/01/2012