VANCOUVER — A Surrey man who won a $1-million lottery denies that his co-workers are entitled to a share of the prize.
Hung Sengsouvanh, 63, an employee at a lighting factory in Surrey, won the Maxmillion prize in December and was then sued by four of his co-workers.
In a lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court, the co-workers claim that they gave Sengsouvanh money left over from contributions to a potluck Christmas party at the factory.
They said they each proposed to kick in $5 to buy a $25 ticket for the Lotto Max jackpot for Dec. 14 because it was such a large prize. The co-workers claim that Hung, employed as the “lead hand” at the factory, volunteered to buy the ticket after work and that they all agreed any winnings from the lottery would be divided equally.
After Sengsouvanh won the prize, the co-workers asked him to provide equal shares. He refused.
Lotto Max is a nationwide lottery with jackpots of between $10 million and $60 million, with multiple additional prizes known as Maxmillions worth $1 million each.
In addition to demanding their share of the prize, the co-workers sought a certificate of pending litigation against Sengsouvanh’s home after claiming that he told them he would use funds from the prize to make payments on his mortgage. A certificate of pending litigation is a court action that can have the effect of tying up the land and putting pressure on an owner to settle a dispute.
In his response to the suit, Sengsouvanh denies that he made an agreement with his co-workers to share in the Maxmillion winnings. He says their claims have been “manufactured for the wrongful and ulterior purpose of attempting to justify a certificate of pending litigation and to exert unreasonable, unjustifiable and uncalled-for pressure on him and to vilify and punish him.”
Sengsouvanh said he put the money from three of the co-workers into an envelope for the purchase of a lottery ticket in a future draw.
He said that he purchased the winning Maxmillion ticket with a $50 bill he had received as a contribution from a family member toward a birthday dinner. He said he used the change from the $50 bill in part toward another lottery ticket that was to be bought with the co-workers, putting the money for the second ticket in the same envelope in his locker at work.
