Woman Who Tossed $1M Lottery Ticket Gets Prize: Do You Agree With the Judge?

In New York State a winning lottery ticket is a bearer instrument, except if it is signed before hand.

The woman who kept it should of won. Not the lady who threw it away! I mean if she threw it away on accident it would be a story... but ABC you guys arent giving me much detail... but if the lady simply didnt want the ticket it was her lost.

There is no reason the woman who picked up the thrown away ticket should have to give it back. What is the legal argument?

I belive to enter a lottery you should be made to register and have a tatts card to buy a ticket. this week in Australia we have $70 million tatts on tuesday, thursday $20 mill and sat $20 mill

Would not knowing the law allow you to break it without consequences?

If I said that I didn't know stealing was wrong because someone informed me, would I be able to steal with immunity?

No, it's the responsibility of the person to know that stealing is a crime, regardless of what misinformation is given to him by others, just as it's the lottery ticket holder's responsibility to check the numbers.

Once you relinquish property by throwing it away, it is up for grabs. She would of never known that the ticket was a winner, if the lady didn't obtain it and check the numbers. Another person's benefit shouldn't justify her mistake.

Take care,

The owner should reward the casher inner....handsomely.

How does the Judge know or anyone know that the women claiming the Ticket is hers...Is her name on it....Obviously not.....

This should be a lesson for those who buy the instant tickets, when throwing away, rip it up first....

I do it when I play the numbers...I check them on my computer and if it is a winner I bring it to the store and have them check it.......

She threw it away, it is trash. Her loss

Do unto others as you'd want done to you.

Another woman's trash is another woman's treasure.

Actually I believe the lottery commission should pay the ticket buyer 1,000,000 dollars, since their scanning machine caused this mess. It would not bankrupt the lottery commission and the matter would be settled. If it we're me there would be no way I could ever pay the ticket buyer back the money, and I shouldn't, the lottery commission paid me, so they recognized me as the legitamate winner. PAY THEM BOTH!!!!!

common sense should tell you what's right. I forgot, some people have no common sense

If I put a piece of property out for trash pick up it's still my property until such time the property is completely discarded

Anyone could have said they bought the ticket but it was in the TRASH... Public domain there..... The clerk that said she bought it then threw it away showed up on videos..
but, it didnt corresponde with the times...JUST HOW MANY tickets does she throw away everyday?????? how did the judge know it was the EXACT ticket that she was throwing away in the video???? THE Judge was Wrong.

Shouldn't the finder redistribute the wealth for economic justice? I think I just threw up on my keyboard. If you put your trash out, isn't it considered public and then the authorities can go through your trash for evidence against you? Ideally both women should get something and if the machine said the ticket was not a winner, that should be investigated.

If the machine said it was not a winner and she threw it away she gave up the ticket. The person who found it should get to keep it.

However, if she can prove the machine gave her bad information regarding her winning ticket then the owner of the machine or the party responsible for the bad information from the machine is liable for her $1M loss and should have to make her whole by giving her $1M.

Throwing it in the trash makes it the finders possession. But.... the best thing would be for them to share the winnings. They both had possession at one time or another. Share you greedy beyotches!

Garbage is anybody's property if they want it. She threw it away, it was trash. Therefore theirs who dived for it.

Finders keepers. Besides I was under the impression the law said once you throw something away you relinquish ownership.

I'm of two minds on this. Yes, she threw it away after the machine said it was no good. However, neither woman would have the money had the second one not rescued the ticket from the trash. I think a Solomon-like solution would have been to split it between the two ladies.

How could the woman who threw it out prove it was hers? Was the toss out a mistake? I think the one who found it should win.

Once you throw something in the trash it becomes anybodies that wants to dig for it. Sorry but she should have double checked.

Finders Keepers.
Don't toss anything until you have given it a second look.

Given the facts and circumstances, had the equipment worked correctly, she would have been a winner when she checked the ticket.

Would not knowing the law allow you to break it without consequences?

If I said that I didn't know stealing was wrong because someone informed me, would I be able to steal with immunity?

No, it's the responsibility of the person to know that stealing is a crime, regardless of what misinformation is given to him by others, just as it's the lottery ticket holder's responsibility to check the numbers.

Once you relinquish property by throwing it away, it is up for grabs. She would of never known that the ticket was a winner, if the lady didn't obtain it and check the numbers. Another person's benefit shouldn't justify her mistake.

Take care,

The fact is, she bought a ticket, went to check it. The machine said "loser" because it was defective so she disposes of the ticket. Then another party rummages through the garbage (how do we know that this was not a setup to begin with, the store clerk in collusion with the dumpster diver) and gets the winning ticket.

I don't get where breaking ANY law comes into your mind. No law was broken, this is a case of ownership.

The whole point that you missed was, it's the individuals responsibility to make sure that the ticket is a winner or not, the machine is just a convenience. How are we even to believe that the machine failed to scan it? How are we to know if the original owner actually bought the ticket? Does the lottery stats include time of purchase in the database of where the ticket was purchased, so they can pinpoint the video cameras to the exact moment? And on top of that, when has it become a machines responsibility to confirm winning tickets? The whole notion is absurd. And when has throwing away trash ever remained yours, indefinitely? So if you mistakenly throw away your wife's ring because it got stuck in a newspaper, it's the newspaper's distributor's fault?

The whole idea of blaming a lottery checking machine for it, is absurd to me. And I find it unlikely that a machine would make such a simple error, people do. And even if the machine did make an error, she could of checked the lottery ticket, herself. Does the machine state that it's error proof? And that by using the machine, it becomes their responsibility?

Tale care,

If you leave a watch at the security check in an airport and the next guy steals it, he gets arrested as was the case in Dallas last month.

Does the lottery stats include time of purchase in the database of where the ticket was purchased, so they can pinpoint the video cameras to the exact moment? YES IT DOES!

You missed the whole point. It's a civil issue, not a law breaking issue.

In any event, the judge decided in the original ticket owners favor. So it's a moot issue.

Indeed, unless she is able to overthrow the verdict threw an appeal. However, she willingly threw away the lottery ticket, relinquishing her rights to it. If the same guy at the security check threw away his watch at the airport, and then wanted it back later, he would loose his watch just the same.

However, if they can pinpoint the exact time and date, then it becomes: do you even need a ticket at all to claim lottery winnings? Which you do, because the lottery are not responsible for lost tickets.

Take care,

You need to study some contract and ownership law. Or watch Judge Judy for a crash course.

It doesn't matter what you think, it's what the law is.

The watch was a news story last month. The guy who took it was arrested for felony grand theft. Police tracked him down from security footage.

She paid for the ticket. Her decision to throw it away was based on the store's reader giving her false information.

Would not knowing the law allow you to break it without consequences?

If I said that I didn't know stealing was wrong because someone informed me, would I be able to steal with immunity?

No, it's the responsibility of the person to know that stealing is a crime, regardless of what misinformation is given to him by others, just as it's the lottery ticket holder's responsibility to check the numbers.

Once you relinquish property by throwing it away, it is up for grabs. She would of never known that the ticket was a winner, if the lady didn't obtain it and check the numbers. Another person's benefit shouldn't justify her mistake.

Take care,