Legal News

?It Could Happen To You,? The Lawsuit Version

By Ashby Jones

Come on, you can admit you’ve done this. You’ve made an agreement with a life-long buddy that if either of you ever win the lottery, you’ll split the proceeds.

Now, of course you haven’t won the lottery, so neither of you have had to deal with this. But if one of you did, would such contract hold up in court? (Any recent law grads, fresh off of all that BarBri cramming, care to weigh in?)

A somewhat similar scenario is playing out up in Connecticut, in which sister is suing sister to recover half of what she claims is rightfully hers. Click here for the Hartford Courant story; hat tip: ABA Journal.

The backstory: Way back in 1995, two gamblin’ Connecticut sisters, Theresa Sokaitis and Rose Bakaysa, agreed that if either of them hit it big, they’d split a jackpot. They didn’t just spit in their hands and shake on it. No no. With the help of an accountant, they actually drew up a contract, which each signed.

Well, lo and behold, Bakaysa, 87, won the Powerball drawing in 2005, worth $500k, with a ticket jointly owned with her brother. Sokaitis, 83, asked for half, but Bakaysa said no. Sokaitis, but of course, sued.

The trial court granted Bakaysa’s motion for summary judgment in September 2006, holding that the contract was unenforceable. Sokaitis appealed. In a decision released Tuesday, the state Supreme Court has ruled that the case can go to trial.

At trial, the lawyer for Bakaysa, William Sweeney, says he plans to show that the contract, legitimate or not, was revoked by the sisters. The sisters had a falling out more than a year before the Powerball ticket was purchased.

Sean R. Higgins, a lawyer for Sokaitis, said he was skeptical when he first heard about the agreement. “Our initial reaction was, ‘Sure you have a contract,’” Higgins told the Courant. “And then sure enough, the fax starts ringing and something comes over that’s the type of thing that’s right out of a movie script.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 11, 2009 (boomark / email).