A judge ruled Monday that a New Hampshire woman who won a Powerball jackpot worth nearly $560 million can keep her identity private, but not her hometown.
Judge Charles Temple noted that the case’s resolution rested on application of the state’s Right-to-Know law, which governs access to public records for the woman. She was identified as “Jane Doe” in a lawsuit against the New Hampshire Lottery Commission.
Temple wrote he had “no doubts whatsoever that should Ms. Doe’s identity be revealed, she will be subject to an alarming amount of harassment, solicitation, and other unwanted communications.” He said she met her burden of showing that her privacy interest outweighs the public’s interest in disclosing her name in the nation’s eighth-largest jackpot.
However, Temple noted that nothing in his order could be interpreted to prevent the lottery commission or its employees from “processing, maintaining, or accessing Ms. Doe’s ticket in the normal course of business.”
The woman signed her ticket after the Jan. 6 drawing, but later learned from lawyers that she could have shielded her identity by writing the name of a trust. They said she was upset after learning she was giving up her anonymity by signing the ticket — something the lottery commission acknowledged isn’t spelled out on the ticket, but is detailed on its website. The woman ended up establishing the Good Karma Family Trust of 2018.
Temple found that the commission’s argument that revealing her name to ensure the public she’s a “bona fide” lottery participant and “real” winner was not persuasive, because a trustee claiming a prize on someone’s behalf is certainly not a “bona fide” participant or a “real” winner.
Last week, the commission handed over $264 million — the amount left after taxes were deducted — to the woman’s lawyers. They said she would give $150,000 to Girls Inc. and $33,000 apiece to three chapters of End 68 Hours of Hunger in the state. It is the first of what her lawyers said would be donations over the years of between $25 million to $50 million during her lifetime.
The woman’s lawyers have only said she is from southern New Hampshire and doesn’t want the attention that often comes with winning a big jackpot.
(AP)
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3 Responses
This ruling sets a very interesting precedence. No big jackpot winner wants his name revealed for the same reasons as this woman….Therefore , they can all set up a trust and collect via the trust… It seems from this ruling , that the judge is infringing on the rights of the lottery commission to make “identity revelation” a condition of receiving the prize…. What is to stop all future winners from doing the same????? It can be argued against this ruling , that she knew this condition when she bought her ticket for which she had freedom to choose whether to buy it and live by the commissions rules , or not to participate in the drawing….
Very strange ruling indeed!!!!!!
So is this now a legal precedent?
From now on anyone who wins these lotteries can remain anonymous and continue to collect all the free goodies from the government like welfare, food stamps, section 8, shlissel gelt, medicaid, tax refund, etc….???
Can I remain anonymous if I win my local Yeshiva Chinese auction?
Now the lottery officials or Governor can claim, yes we have many winners but we can’t reveal their names, all the while pocketing the money themselves.
Not getting involved- not revealing identity means that it is not revealed to the public, it does not mean that you could hide the money from the government.