If you win a Mega Millions jackpot and someone discloses your identity to other people, will you file a lawsuit against them?
This is what a resident in Maine did to the mother of his own child after the defendant told the plaintiff's parents that he won the lottery.
The lucky man sued his partner; filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Portland. He claimed that after he won the jackpot, he and the defendant agreed on an NDA (non-disclosure agreement).
Maine: Mega Millions Winner Sues Spouse After Announcing Lottery Win
NBC News reported that the plaintiff, who won a $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot, said that his child's mother told about the lottery win to his own father and stepmother.
Some people may think that filing a lawsuit against your partner is too much. However, aside from putting his identity at risk, the man also said that they both agreed on an NDA.
The plaintiff explained that the women violated their non-disclosure agreement by directly and indirectly disclosing their winnings to other people.
In their NDA, the plaintiff and the defendant agreed not to disclose the lottery winning to promote the security and safety of the winner and their daughter, as well as to avoid irreparable harm that can be caused by the media.
According to Entrepreneur, they both signed the NDA on February 8; around a month after the man won the Mega Millions jackpot in January and collected his earnings, which summed up to $723,563,144.
The lawsuit said that if the woman really did announce the man's lottery winning and identity, she had 24 hours to let the man know.
As of writing, it isn't clear if the defendant already has an attorney to defend her in the case. Gregory Brown, the plaintiff's attorney, said that they will not discuss more sensitive details regarding the lawsuit.
Dangers of Disclosing Lottery Winners' Identities
There are many reasons why disclosing the identities of lottery winners is not a good thing; most of them are life-threatening.
For example, once the identity of a lottery winner is announced publicly, there's a chance that some criminals will try to find them to steal their winnings.
Even acquaintances with bad intentions could be tempted to put lottery winners' lives at risk just to get their money. In 2015, Craigory Burch Jr., a jackpot winner in Georgia, was killed by seven masked men after his identity was disclosed.
Burch Jr.'s case is just one of the many where lottery winners were killed because their identities were not protected. You can click here to see more.
