Lets say you purchased a lottery ticket from a store, which ended up winning the grand prize of $1,000,000.
However, when you were buying the ticket, the store clerk was so busy that, they ended giving you the same amount of money back. So technically you really never ended paying for it…
Could you still keep the grand prize?
I’d say you owe the store $1.
Legally? I’m sure you could. Stores keep track of the lottery tickets they sell, and if their records say you bought the ticket, then you bought the ticket and you get the money. And if they were missing a dollar the end of the day, they wouldn’t know you had it. If you mean ethically I’d still say yes. The clerk made the mistake.
This. The ticket cost a dollar but made you $1,000,000.
Take another example. You buy $9 worth of gas, but the clerk accidentally gives you back $10 instead of $1. You then drive to work. Are you not entitled to your wages for the day? You still have to ethically return to pay for your gas, but the transaction between you and your company, or you and the lottery is only facilitated by your interaction with the station, and the fees associated with facilitating the transaction are independent of the exchange in the transaction. I hope that makes sense.
But the winning number was still drawn. Could the next person who would have received that ticket if it hadn’t been given to his predecessor lay claim to the prize?
Well since the op stipulated it was a mistake by the clerk why should the person who has the ticket be denied the prize because of someone else’s mistake?
The clerk owes the store owner $1. You conducted a legal transaction. The clerk failed to do his job properly.
A legal contract for the sale of the ticket exists. The buyer offered to pay a dollar. The clerk accepted his offer, and gave him the ticket. If the clerk didn’t take the dollar, that doesn’t negate the contract; the buyer’s promise to pay a dollar is enough.
In other words, the buyer owes the store a dollar.
Ethically, I believe the buyer owes the store $1.
Technically, I believe the clerk owes the store $1 (it was the clerk’s error).
On what technicality? Employees are almost never required to reimburse their employers for economic losses associated with their employment.
Nope. In my job, I can easily make errors that cost my employer hundreds of thousands of dollars. I am sure I have. All I owe them is my honest effort. If I went above and beyond and they benefitted by millions, they don’t pay me those millions either. I usually end up getting a few hundred in additional inventive pay (as do a couple thousand others, in varying amounts) and maybe a token gift, if it actually gets recognized byt the appropriate level of management. I am a pretty high level corporate employee (the kind that is assumed to be on call 24X7) but I am still only an employee. Unless I do something deliberately to damage my employers, their only recourse is to fire me. At my level, I have seen several instances of massive screw-ups being followed by the corporate version of the perp-walk. HR and Security taking the badge and keys off the employee and walking him or her out.
Last time it happened it was some VP who not only disagreed violently and sarcastically with the company’s strategic direction, he accidentally copied a few hundred people on the email. His email account was down within two hours.
People in charge of cash, such as the clerk in this case are often held responsible for maintaining a proper balance. I don’t know the legality of such practises. In this case with the amount of $1, the legal system would categorize this imbalance as de minimis non curat lex, which is latin for don’t bother me with this penny-ante crap.
Held responsible = you get written up or fired, not forced to repay the employer.
If the customer was obligated to refund the full $1,000,000, then by the same token someone who stole a non-winning ticket would not be obligated to refund anything, since the ticket ended up being worthless
The most reasonable solution is that in both cases the customer/clerk owes the store $1.
State laws vary but they almost never can force you to repay. In Illinois for instance, the business would have to prove INTENTIONAL theft. And then they have to go to the police, file a theft report. At that point you could be arrested, but the business would have to sue you in civil court to recover the loss.
This is why you bond employees that handle cash.
As for the ticket, you bought the item. You paid for the item. Then the clerk gave you back the wrong change. These are all sepearte. The clerk did NOT refund the money.
I recall now the part about intentional theft. So combined with the principle of* de minimis*, there would be no legal responsibility for repayment by anyone.
If I was the clerk, I’d repay the dollar instead of losing my job (unless it sucked anyway). If I was the lottery winner I’d gladly repay the clerk or the store. If I was the store, I’d keep my mouth shut if the premise of the OP were true because the store usually gets a hefty payoff for selling a ticket with a big payoff.
Possession of the ticket and presenting it at the lottery office is usually the sole determining factor of who gets paid. This store clerk was found to have pocketed a winning customer’s ticket, after he had scanned it and found it to be a million dollar ticket. Evidence proved the customer was the winner and the clerk was a thief, but the rightfull winner still was out of luck and didn’t get paid. The clerk fled to Nepal and the story is here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33430579/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
It does indicate that the rightful owner of the ticket is entitled to the money. It was difficult to recover because the clerk had fled the country.
Powerball outlets can get self-scan ticket checkers for problems, and as the cite says, sign your tickets to prevent problems.
As an aside, this weird story.