The Multi-State Lottery Association is seeking to be dismissed as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges she is entitled to the $1.08 billion jackpot from the July 19, 2023 Powerball drawing.
Plaintiff Stacy Tru also is suing the California State Lottery Commission, but the motion pertains only to the MUSL, which is a nonprofit, government-benefit association owned and operated by agreement of its 34 member lotteries. The association was created to facilitate the operation of multi-jurisdictional lottery games, including the Powerball.
In court papers filed Tuesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Upinder S. Kalra, the MUSL alleges that Tru’s causes of action for breach of contract, either implied or expressed, and common count are not supported by law and that therefore the organization should be eliminated as a defendant.
“This court has twice granted plaintiff leave to amend her deficient causes of action,” the MUSL lawyers state in their court papers. “Though they are no longer packaged in a form complaint, plaintiff’s threadbare claims against MUSL are essentially the same.”
Tru cannot point to any single agreement between herself and the MUSL and instead “seeks to mix and match documents” in an attempt to piece together a written contract between her and the association, the MUSL lawyers further state in their court papers.
Citing only “sparse facts,” Tru contends she suffered damages caused by the MUSL’s “unspecified breaches in the amount of more than $1 billion,” the association attorneys contend in their pIeadings.
Tru’s lawsuit was filed in January 2025. She is seeking the $1.08 billion along with interest retroactive to Oct. 15, 2023, the date which the plaintiff contends she made a claim for the money and was denied.
A hearing on the MUSL’s dismissal motion is scheduled March 17.