Judgment along with more than $150,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs have been awarded to the California State Lottery Commission in the wake of the dismissal of a lawsuit by a man who claimed he was wrongfully denied $750,000 for a winning hand in a high stakes poker ticket, according to court papers obtained Friday.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin C. Brazile signed the judgment on Thursday, disposing of the breach-of-contract suit filed by plaintiff James Densley in April 2022. Densley said he bought a ticket in September 2021 that revealed a flush, which he contended was a winning hand over three queens with a prize of $75,000.00 multiplied by 10, or $750,000.
Densley said he was denied the money by the commission without explanation three months later. In their court papers urging dismissal of the case, the Attorney General’s Office contended that the original ticket was torn into pieces and reassembled using cellophane tape in a way that rearranged the play symbols in order to create a winning hand.
Brazile granted the Attorney General’s Office’s motion to toss out Densley’s suit and awarded the commission $153,200 in attorneys’ fees and costs.