A litigation tug-of-war that lasted for 5 years finally ushered in the final judgment.
5 years ago,Mr. Yao, a citizen of Xi'an, transferred money to the owner of the lottery shop through WeChat to buy lottery tickets,I didn't expect the lottery ticket owner to send him to win the jackpot of 10.01 million yuan. But then the owner of the lottery shop claimed that the winning ticket was sent by mistake, and the parties had a dispute over the ownership of a 10.01 million yuan winning sports ticket. In the end, the lottery shop owner's cousin went to claim the prize.
On August 2, Mr. Yao obtained the final judgment of the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court, which rejected the impostor's appeal and upheld the original verdict. The previous first-instance verdict showed that the cousin of the owner of the lottery shop who received the prize was sentenced to return all the winnings and pay interest to Mr. Yao, the lottery buyer.
Mr. Yao told the upstream news reporter that he couldn't tell how long it would take from the final judgment to the final bonus.
Tens of millions of dollars in lottery tickets purchased online
According to the upstream news previously published "Xi'an men's online lottery ticket in the jackpot of 10.01 million yuan betting shop owner: sent wrong, not yours" report shows,2019year,At that time, Mr. Yao, a 43-year-old citizen of Xi'an, worked in Yiyi District, Xi'an City,Monthly income of about 3,000 yuan,There is a habit of buying lottery tickets for a long time,And often buy lottery tickets at the lottery station operated by Wang and his wife。
Lottery involved. Photographer/Upstream News Reporter Jia Chen
Mr. and Mrs. Wang operated a lottery sales station, located in Xi'an City, Yiyi District. The court investigation showed that at 1 p.m. on July 17, 2019, an outsider bought a self-selected lottery ticket from Wang, and the selected number was the lottery number involved in the case (Sports Lottery Lotto 19082), a total of 5 notes, worth 10 yuan. When the ticket was issued, Wang did not add a double vote as requested by the outsider. As a result, this lottery ticket was abandoned by outsiders in the lottery station. The lottery ticket that was re-doubled was taken away on the spot by an outsider to the case. Since then, the outsider in the case has won 18 million yuan.
The court investigation showed that at 5:25 p.m. that day, Mr. Yao sent a 20 yuan WeChat red envelope to Wang, and marked "Lucky 10", implying that he wanted to buy lottery tickets. After that, Wang sent a photo to Mr. Yao via WeChat, which contained two lottery tickets, one of which was the winning ticket involved in the case.
Later, after the court investigation, when Wang sent the photo to Mr. Yao, he covered the time of the winning ticket. In the future, this has also become one of the points of contention between the two parties.
That night, the Sports Lottery Super Lotto No. 19082 was drawn. This lottery won a prize of 10.01 million yuan. On the night he learned that he had won, Mr. Yao asked Wang for a lottery ticket and was refused. Wang said that the winning lottery ticket was purchased by someone else, and he made a mistake in operation, so he mistakenly sent a photo of the lottery ticket purchased by others to Mr. Yao. Mr. Yao told the upstream news reporter that at that time, Wang said that the winner won two grand prizes, 18 million and 10.01 million respectively.
Due to the issue of lottery ownership, there was a dispute between the two sides that night. After that, Mr. Yao saw local media reports that the winner only won 18 million yuan, but did not win 10.01 million yuan. When he asked for an explanation again, Wang had already ignored him.
On July 31, 2019, Mr. Yao entrusted a lawyer to send a "Lawyer's Letter" to the Shaanxi Provincial Sports Lottery Management Center, requesting the center to properly handle the dispute and at the same time hoping that the center would suspend the redemption of the prize. Mr. Yao is trying to confirm the right to the lottery ticket through judicial channels.
Mr. Yao learned through legal means that the winning ticket holder was surnamed Gao, and his identity was Wang's cousin.
On September 4, 2019, Mr. Yao sued Mr. and Mrs. Wang to the People's Court of Hunyi District, requesting the court to confirm that the owner of the winning ticket was himself. Shaanxi Provincial Sports Lottery Management Center and Gao became the third party in this lawsuit.
The lawsuit has not yet been heard, and on September 5, 2019, the Shaanxi Provincial Sports Lottery Management Center paid Gao the winning lottery prize, with an after-tax bonus of 8.01 million yuan.
No one expected that all parties would continue to file lawsuits because of this 10 million yuan winning lottery ticket afterwards. This lawsuit tug-of-war has been going on for five years now.
A lawsuit tug-of-war that lasted for 5 years
On May 14, 2021, the People's Court of Xi'an Yunyi District made a first-instance judgment on this "confirmation of lottery ownership dispute case": confirming that the owner of the winning lottery ticket is Mr. Yao. After that, Mr. and Mrs. Wang, and the lottery holder Gao, appealed against the judgment, but the court rejected it.
Although the court ruled that the owner of the winning ticket was Mr. Yao, Mr. Yao found that wanting to get his winnings was another matter.
In order to prevent difficulties in enforcing the judgment after the judgment, on September 25, 2023, the People's Court of Hubei District made a ruling ex officio: the bank deposits of 8.01 million yuan or equivalent value in the names of Gao and Wang were sealed, seized or frozen. In this regard, three people filed a reconsideration. On October 17, 2023, the court rejected the three people's requests for reconsideration.
However, Gao obviously received a winning bonus of 8.01 million yuan, but the court's inquiry showed that the property in the names of Gao and Wang was obviously not enough to ensure the performance of the debt. In order to prevent the transfer of property, the court again made a freezing decision.
The upstream news reporter noticed that the court made another ruling afterwards, extending the scope of property seizure, seizure or freezing to Gao's wife (the original text of the ruling, actually the ex-wife, the same below) and her two daughters, as well as the son and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wang.
Gao's wife and daughter were dissatisfied with the ruling and filed a reconsideration. Gao's wife submitted evidence to the court that on June 2, 2020, she and Gao had registered their divorce with the civil affairs department, and the two parties also signed the Divorce Agreement.
In response to Mr. Yao's lawsuit for the return of lottery money, on March 15 this year, the People's Court of Yiyi District, Xi'an City, made a first-instance judgment: the lottery winning prize belongs to Mr. Yao, and Gao was ordered to pay Mr. Yao 8.01 million yuan and interest within 15 days after the judgment took effect; At the same time, Wang and his wife were ordered to bear joint and several liability for the payment.
The cousin's appeal was rejected and the full prize money was returned
After the above-mentioned first-instance judgment, Gao appealed to the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court on the grounds that the court of first instance had erroneous procedures, unclear ascertainment of facts, and erroneous application of law. Mr. and Mrs. Wang were lawfully summoned by the court and did not appear in court to participate in the proceedings without a legitimate reason. The upstream news reporter noticed that although Gao appealed, he did not submit new evidence.
Mr. Yao (middle) and his lawyer. Photographer/Upstream News Reporter Jia Chen
On August 2, Mr. Yao obtained the final judgment of the case, and the court rejected Gao's appeal request and upheld the original judgment of the first instance.
After receiving the final judgment, Mr. Yao was still sad. He said that it has been 5 years, and the long wait has made him a little numb.
"I don't know how long I'll have to wait [to get the money], but I'm going to keep going." Mr. Yao said.
Mr. Yao's lawyer, Yu Shengxiu, told upstream news reporters that if the other party insists on not fulfilling the court judgment (returning the winning prize and interest), he will apply to the court for enforcement.
Upstream news reporter Jia Chen