An Ontario man sued 24 of his coworkers after they excluded him from a $50 million lottery win because he was on vacation.
According to The U.S. Sun, Christopher Bates and his colleagues formed a pool at a Bombardier plant where they would play the lottery together and split the winnings should they take home the jackpot.
When the team eventually won the lottery in 2011, they left him out because he hadn’t paid the entry fee. The group used a “no pay, no play” rule and because of his vacation, they deemed it an appropriate reason not to share the money.
Bates contacted his lawyer and said that because he was the founder of the pool, he felt entitled to some of the winnings.
Several others missed out on the win as well leading to a delay in the payout due to the multiple claims of deserved earnings at the time.
In the end, only two claims moved forward.
A 10-day civil trial began and concluded on the second day, though the terms of the settlement were never released to the public.
Bates’ lawyer, Michael Cochrane, argued that his colleagues had a duty of good faith to act on when they entered everyone in the lottery.
Cochrane then issued a warning to other lottery pool players telling them to be aware of their responsibilities as well as the rules of the pool.
