This today, at CP24 (from my friend Mike Fata)
... In fact, to find the one issue that seems to have transfixed so many, you have to journey down the 401 to Saint-Jerome, Quebec and enter a local Tim Horton’s. That’s where a man who works at a local school bought a coffee, took it with him to work and threw it out in the trash.
It was retrieved by a 10-year-old girl, who asked another student to help her roll up the rim to see if she’d won anything. And as it turns out she had – a Toyota SUV worth almost $30,000. Since then, the drama has deteriorated into an almost embarrassing farce, with three different parties – the man who bought the coffee, the family of the girl who found the cup and the parents of the child who rolled up that rim – all insisting they are the ones who really have claim to the bounty.
Now the lawyer for the coffee buyer is demanding a DNA test to show he’s the real winner – even if he did throw away the winning cup.
The story has become a cause celebre across the country and everyone’s talking about it – when else – during their coffee break. “I think it's only fair to share the prize, I think its unfair not to,” suggests Harry Mohabir as he sips some java at the Eaton Centre. Ida Mancini doesn’t agree. “In all fairness, I think the girl that found the cup, she should keep it,” she insists.
Lawyers, who are the only ones reaping the benefits of the bizarre dispute, admit it’s a tricky area of law. “It's not cut and dried because it is going to depend on a lot of different factors,” contends property lawyer Kelly Moffatt. “The contest sponsors can never really know, no matter how tight their legal rules are, how the contest entrants are gonna respond and what all of those facts are gonna be that are in play.”In other words, Tim Horton’s is brewing up a lot of publicity without having to do anything. And that’s something money can’t buy. As for settling the dispute, the company notes the person who submits the winning rim is eligible to collect the prize.
But like just about everything els in this twisted case, that decision can be challenged in court. And you can bet given the animosity already shown so far, it probably will be.
Link: http://www.pulse24.com/Business/Top_Story/20060314-002/page.asp
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