Date Set for Court Case Against Montana Lottery Winner
Wednesday March 25th 2015The fight for a seven-figure lottery prize has ramped up as a judge has set a court date for the trial of a lottery winner who supposedly promised to split a windfall - and then didn’t.
Jeff Fallang, a convenience store worker who won $1 million on Montana Millionaire, has been issued with a restraining order to prevent him from spending half of his winnings until the trial date of April 11th, 2016. On December 23rd, 2014, plaintiff Michael Hess visited the Town Pump store in East Helena, where Fallang worked, to buy tickets for the annual raffle offered by the Montana Lottery. According to court documents, Hess mentioned to Fallang that he’d split the prize if he won.
Fallang apparently then asked if he could buy a ticket from Hess, who agreed so long as Fallang also promised to evenly split any potential win with him. Two witnesses, who were also employees at the Town Pump and are listed in court documents, stated that they saw Hess and Fallang verbally agree to the deal. Hess then purchased a ticket, number 133618, for Fallang. Just a week later, the ticket snapped up the top prize. Hess tried to get in contact with Fallang to get his half of the money, but received no response.
Fallang claimed the money on January 2nd, stating that he planned to take time off work and “keep living life”. Hess filed a lawsuit under a week later to try and claim what he believes is his half of the money.
Verbal agreements are fraught with legal difficulties, and you could save yourself a lot of time and trouble by forming a lottery syndicate with a written contract. If you think you’d like to take part in fun games like Montana Cash, visit the Montana Results page.