Massihzadeh v. Seaver

457 P.3d 739 (2019)

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Massihzadeh v. Seaver

Colorado Court of Appeals
457 P.3d 739 (2019)

Facts

Amir Massihzadeh (plaintiff), Tommy Tipton, and Cuestion de Suerte, LLC (Cuestion) each held a lottery ticket with the combination of numbers drawn in a November 2005 lottery drawing for a $4.8 million jackpot. The Colorado State Lottery Division (the division) (defendant) certified the lottery results, and the three tickets became winning tickets that would split the jackpot in thirds. Massihzadeh, Cuestion, and an individual to whom Tipton transferred his ticket redeemed their tickets and received lump-sum payouts of $568,990 each (i.e., one-third of the jackpot, less taxes). A decade later, the division learned that the winning tickets held by Cuestion and Tipton’s transferee had been procured with advance knowledge of the winning numbers as part of a multistate lottery-fraud scheme. Tipton and his brother had pleaded guilty to lottery fraud in Iowa, and the state of Colorado agreed not to prosecute the brothers in exchange for restitution of $1,137,980 (i.e., the payout on the two fraudulently procured tickets). Massihzadeh sued the division and Colorado Lottery Director Tom Seaver (defendant), seeking to recover the other two-thirds of the November 2005 lottery jackpot. The division moved to dismiss, and the trial court granted the motion. The court concluded that Massihzadeh’s action was barred by a Colorado statute providing that the division’s payment of any prize to the holder of a winning ticket released the division from any liability associated with that payment. Massihzadeh appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Taubman, J.)

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