The Chatham resident Maurice Thibeault is suing Ontario regulator, after 50% of the jackpot he won in September 2017 was unexpectedly held back when the man’s rejected girlfriend claimed a share.
The man, who won CA$6 million from the lottery, is engaged in a court battle with his former girlfriend over the money. Now, he has decided to start another legal fight against the provincial agency which is engaged in investigating such disputes and regulating the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG).
The lottery winner is suing the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) for CA$825,000 in damages, after a 50% portion of his Lotto 6/49 jackpot won in the fall of 2017 was held back by the regulatory body following Thibeaut’s rejected former girlfriend claimed that she had the right to half of the prize.
The man is seeking damages worth CA$250,000 from the AGCO blaming the Ontario Commission for demonstrating negligence at the time of the investigation, for breach of fiduciary and statutory duty as well as in wrongful interference in contractual relations. He is also seeking punitive damages estimated to CA$500,000, and special damages amounting to another CA$75,000. Maurice Thibeault further insisted that the costs of for the court battle against his former girlfriend and the legal taxes from the action filed against the AGCO should be paid back to him.
The legal action against the local regulator has been confirmed by Thibeault’s lawyer, Richard Pollock.
Ex Girlfriend Wants Half of the Prize
For the time being, some of the statements made in the claim were not proven in court, but the £6-million winner blamed the AGCO for its failure to conduct a proper and in-depth investigation. He also claims that potential evidence has not been collected or analyzed properly by the regulatory body.
Earlier, The Province reported, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario was addressed for a comment on the matter, but the regulator did not answer to them. Mr. Thibeault’s lawyer revealed that he has not received a statement of defense for the third-party claim which had been filed against the local regulatory body.
As mentioned above, the dispute between the parties involved started when the ex-girlfriend of Mr. Thibeault, Denise Robertson, claimed that she had the right to 50% of the Lotto 6/49 prize won on September 20th, 2017, as the two of them used to regularly buy lottery tickets together and had the understanding to share potential winnings long before the jackpot was hit. Thibeault, however, denies the claims that such an understanding had ever existed.
The man was given half of the CA$6.1-million prize in January 2018, after an OLG investigation on the matter was carried out. The remaining part of the prize is still held back waiting for the results of the court battle between the ex-couple.
Some of the claims made by Ms. Robertson in the original legal challenge filed in February 2018 have not yet been tested in court. According to her version of the story, one day she got home from work only to find out that her then-boyfriend had moved out of their mutual home. Ms. Robertson also claims that Thibeault had previously told her that their lottery ticket had lost.
