Write a contract before entering a workplace lotto pool: Expert
Posted Feb 15, 2011 8:03 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Disputes over group lottery payouts are a growing problem.
According to the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corporation, one quarter of group payouts since September have been disputed.
The latest case was a group of employees from Bell, who won a $50-million prize.
Nineteen claimed the jackpot, but since then 11 more co-workers have come forward.
One legal expert tells 660News the best way to protect yourself is by having a contract.
Dalhousie law professor Chidi Oguamanam says it can either be written down or oral, as long as it can help lawyers prove it in a court of law.
“Good faith is quite important in any transaction between human beings, but beyond that when money is an issue the most sensible thing is to put the agreement down in a contract,” says Oguamanam.
Co-workers can legally claim that they were purposely excluded or that they didn’t know about the jackpot, but Oguamanam says there has to be proof.
“But my hunch is that it is not a matter of entitlement, every case will fall or stand on its own facts,” he says.
Oral agreements will also hold up as evidence in Canadian courts.
“You use the same standards, written contracts are an expressed statement of intention in most cases,” he explains. “And there is no reason why that expressed statement of intention cannot be transported between all parties.”
