Los Angeles Times

Circulation: 1,104,654 DAILY / 1,502,120 SUNDAY

WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1995

COPYRIGHT 1995/THE TIMES MIRROR COMPANY / CC†† / 128 PAGES

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DESIGNATD AREAS HIGHER

 

Associated Press

Soo Jang Chae, left, with one of his attorneys, Jae Lee, in courtroom after decision in his favor.

Lottery Winner Picked by a Jury

 

  • Courts: Liquor store owner is given the $12.3-million prize after a bitter, 15-month legal battle with a clerk who claimed the ticket was his.

By: TOM GORMAN

TIMES STAFF WRITER

 

RIVERSIDE – Disputed ownership of a winning $12.3-million Super Lotto ticket was finally resolved Tuesday by a civil court jury, 15 months after the owner of a local liquor store and one of his clerks – who were once described as “closer than brothers” – each claimed it.

The jury concluded that the ticket belonged to store owner Soo Jang Chae, even though the ticket ended up in the hands of one of his clerks, Dong Pil Kim, the morning after the Jan. 29, 1994, drawing.

“I think I will go on a vacation,” said a grinning Chae. “But I want to lead as ordinary a life as possible.”

California State Lottery officials have held on to the winnings – which will amount to about $425,000 a year, after taxes, over 20 years – pending the court resolution. Their own security officials were unable to resolve the feud.

The winning ticket was tucked inside the cash register at Chae’s Airport Liquor Store when the lotto numbers were drawn, and that was one of the

 

Please see LOTTERY, A15