Multi-million dollar jackpot remains on hold after court hearing - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

A fight over a winning lottery ticket went to court Wednesday.

Seven hair stylists in Indianapolis claim a co-worker cheated them out of their share of a $9.5 million jackpot. The woman who bought the tickets says she does not have to share the money.

One ticket won, but the buyer claims it was her personal ticket that hit the jackpot.

The fight between the eight women went to court for a judge to decide if the temporary restraining order should remain in place.

The seven hair stylists arrived to court Wednesday afternoon looking confident. But the smiles hid their true feelings about their former co-worker who bought the lottery tickets for the office pool, claiming the ticket that won belonged to her and not the group.

"They're disappointed that it came to this. They're much more disappointed than they are angry," said Scott Montross, attorney for the plaintiffs.

But that's not stopping the women from fighting for their piece of the $9.5 million Hoosier Lottery jackpot. All seven named in the suit, plus another three former employees from Lou's Creative Styles Hair Salon on the city's northeast side, testified in court. They all claimed the same agreement: anyone who bought lottery tickets for the pool could not buy personal tickets at the same time and place. If they did, those tickets belonged to the group.

So, we asked the attorney for that stylist who bought the tickets, "Did she buy the ticket at another location?"

"No, she did not," said Kent Smith, attorney for Christy Shaw, the stylist who bought the tickets.

"So, she bought it with the pool tickets," asked Cline.

"Yes, she did," said Smith.

"Did she understand the rule that they all testified to?" Eyewitness News asked.

"That's what we'll find out," said Smith.

"If certain conditions are met, all of which we think we showed in there were met, then an oral contract is just as binding as a written contract," said Montross.

So, what's next? The judge will rule on whether to keep an injunction in place freezing the money until the issue is sorted out. Then, if the two sides can't come to an agreement on their own, it's back to court to let a judge decide who gets the money. Stay tuned as we continue to follow the developments in this case.

Do you participate in an office pool? See how you can avoid this potential headache - assuming you hit the jackpot someday!