A Quebec man had his hopes and his fortune dashed when the Supreme Court of Canada decided recently to dismiss his application for leave to appeal a decision of the Quebec Court of Appeal. Joel Ifergan scooted into a convenience store just before 9 pm in 2008 and bought two lottery tickets for that night’s lottery draw. First ticket: no problem. The second, and winning ticket? It was issued at seven seconds after 9 pm. That ticket indicated on its face that it was eligible for the next week’s draw. He sued Loto Quebec, claiming that a processing lag was responsible for the winning ticket being issued out of time, but lost. To add insult to injury, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed his leave application with costs.
Ifergan v. Société des Loteries du Québec (case summary)