Lottery winner, 94, sues to get it all now

Casshew

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Louise Outing is 94 years old, and she knows it would be foolish to expect to live another 20. So the lottery winner wants all of her cash now, not in payments spread out over the next two decades.

''In March, I will be 95 years old. Do you realize that? Ninety-five in March," the Everett woman said in a telephone interview yesterday. ''Now, you know I'm not going to live 20 years."

Outing won the Sept. 4 Megabucks drawing, and she wants the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission to cut her a check immediately for the full $5.6 million, minus taxes. But the commission has so far rejected that request, saying Megabucks winners get 20-year annuities, not lump-sum payments.

Frustrated, Outing and her Boston attorney, James Dilday, yesterday asked Norfolk Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara to step in. Dilday said state rules give the lottery's executive director, Joseph C. Sullivan, the freedom to choose between big cash now or a series of smaller checks. Dilday also said the state has paid $3.5 million to a bank for the 20-year annuity -- which they could and should have paid directly to Outing.

But Sullivan said he isn't sure Dilday's got it right about the rules or about lottery financing. ''We are just going to have to sit tight and see what the court rules," Sullivan said.

Sullivan said that historically, Megabucks winners get paid in installments over 20 years. ''She is guaranteed a 20-year annuity with a net payment of $198,639 to her and her beneficiaries, which in this case, if needed, would be the estate," he said. ''It really is a pleasant situation in terms of having a big winner, and we're pleased for Mrs. Outing. Our hope is that it remains a pleasant situation for her and her family."

Sullivan said that only the multistate Mega Millions game offers a lump-sum option.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma.../29/lottery_winner_94_sues_to_get_it_all_now/
 
Tell her to call Peachtree. "Those small annuity payments didn't help, but Peachtree got me a large lump sum."
 

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