DENISE Robertson was heartbroken when her companion left – however that turned to fury when she discovered he walked out after an enormous lottery win.
She launched a authorized battle to in a bid to wrestle away half of Maurice Thibeault’s £3.5 million jackpot, in addition to £286,000 in punitive damages.
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Denise claimed the pair had performed Canada’s Lotto 6/49 each week and had dreamed of shopping for an enormous home the place they might indulge of their love of muscle automobiles.
She maintained they’d an settlement to share any lottery winnings, a declare he denied.
And as they lived collectively in Chatham, Ontario, they have been in a common-law relationship which has most of the identical rights as a wedding.
Her lawyer Steven Pickard stated Ontario’s lottery regulator had solely paid Thibeault half his profitable.
It left the opposite £1.75 million with the courts to find out its rightful proprietor, Windsor Star reported on the time.
“They at all times agreed that if they’d a profitable ticket, the proceeds could be theirs, collectively as a pair,” he stated.
“Maurice and Denise have been shopping for Lotto 6/49 tickets collectively for nearly their total relationship.
“Generally he would buy the tickets and typically Denise would.
“Generally Denise would give him cash, and he would purchase the tickets when he went to choose up cigarettes.”
Denise’s authorized staff alleged Thibeault “behaved with deceit, vanity, high-handedness and a callous disregard” for her and her rights.
She stated her teenage daughter lived with Thibeault from July 2015 till September 2017.
When Denise heard that somebody in Chatham had purchased the profitable ticket – which entitled the winner to half of a £7million jackpot – she requested Thibeault if he had purchased a ticket that week.
Within the declare, it’s alleged that Thibeault “made it clear to Denise that they didn’t have the profitable ticket.”
And the next day, Denise got here house and was “shocked to see that Maurice had packed up and eliminated all of his garments, his toiletries and most of his different private gadgets and his Canadian passport.”
She alleged she discovered that Thibeault had texted his boss a message saying he was quitting his job and stating that he had damaged up along with her.
The message learn: “Denise and I are now not collectively.
“Since I left her Monday one other life-changing factor has occurred. I’m unhappy to let you know by textual content however I can’t be coming again to work.”
He then allegedly adopted that textual content with a message containing an image of the profitable lottery ticket.
However Thibeault’s lawyer Richard Pollock, advised CBC that he had accomplished nothing flawed:
“He bought a ticket, he received the ticket, he has claimed the prize. He is an effective and sincere man and what’s at stake right here is his repute.”
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