Winning Tim Hortons cup sparks bitter row

deckchick · March 14th, 2006, 12:37 PM

Winning Tim Hortons cup sparks bitter row

CBC News
A dispute is brewing in Quebec over a sport utility vehicle after a winning "Roll Up the Rim" coffee cup was found in a garbage can.

It all started Tuesday in Montreal when a 10-year-old girl found a Tim Hortons cup in a trash bin, according to a report in the Montreal Gazette.

Remembering the coffee chain's promotional contest, she plucked it out of the garbage. The girl couldn't roll up the rim by herself, so she asked for help from a 12-year-old friend.

When the two girls discovered the cup was the winner of a $28,700 Toyota RAV4, they took it to a teacher at the school, who called the girls' parents.

The 10-year-old's father, who wasn't identified, arrived first and took the cup, saying he planned to sell the vehicle and would offer some of the money to the second child's family.

But when the 12-year-old's mother, Nathalie Prevost, showed up, she said her family deserved to take the prize.

Prevost then called a local radio station to ask for legal advice, propelling the story into the media spotlight, said the Gazette.

The father of the 10-year-old said Prevost's radio appeal went too far and that he has changed his mind about offering that family any money.

A spokesperson for Tim Hortons told the newspaper that whoever submits a winning tab to the company is considered the official prizewinner.

Under the contest rules, the girls can't claim the prize directly because they are minors.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/natio...ute060308.html

Only in Canada!

Grimmlok · March 14th, 2006, 12:41 PM

and instead of shooting each other or suing, the canadian family merely sent terse letters to each other voicing their displeasure.

deckchick · March 14th, 2006, 12:42 PM

and gave each other the finger too...

Grimmlok · March 14th, 2006, 12:44 PM

but only while the other family wasn't looking

twitchy · March 14th, 2006, 12:52 PM

And now the guy who threw the cup away wants a piece of the action.
Quebec school employee seeks DNA test on prize-winning Tim Hortons cup
Dene Moore, Canadian Press

Published: Monday, March 13, 2006

MONTREAL (CP) - A Montreal lawyer wants a DNA test on a prize-winning Tim Hortons coffee cup that has already pitted two elementary school girls against one another.
Claude Archambault said his client, whom he declined to name, bought the coffee cup that was picked out of the garbage bin by a 10-year-old girl at her elementary school in St-Jerome, north of Montreal. Archambault sent a letter to Tim Hortons last week asking the company not to award the prize SUV until the matter is resolved.
"My client, he's not rich," Archambault said Monday.
"He's very sympathetic toward the girls who found the cup, but he said, 'I bought it, and I should be the one who should be paid.' That's his position."
The company has not yet responded to Archambault's letter.
Archambault said no legal action has been taken while he researches the laws that would apply to the case.
He said there is a witness who saw his client with the cup but he would like a DNA test.
A spokesman for Tim Hortons declined to comment on the latest turn of events, but a legal expert said the claim is unlikely to succeed.
"That, I think, is ridiculous," said David Lametti, a law professor at McGill University.
"You might make a claim of ongoing ownership if you lose something... but this was thrown away, it was abandoned."
And under Quebec civil law, when a person abandons an object he relinquishes his claim, he said.
"He threw it away in a public dumpster, right? That, to me, is clearly abandonment," Lametti said.
It's the second dispute over the winning Quebec coffee cup.
According to media reports, the 10-year-old who plucked it from the garbage can last Tuesday couldn't unroll the rim with her small fingers and asked for help from a 12-year-old school mate.
When the cup turned out to be a winner, one of 30 with Toyota RAV4 written under the rim, a dispute erupted over who had claim to the $28,700 prize.
The 12-year-old's mother has said she's not considering legal action, but would like her daughter to share in the prize.
"The Roll up the Rim to Win promotion is meant to be a thank you to our loyal customers," Tim Hortons said in a statement.
The rim in question hasn't yet been submitted for a prize, said the statement.
"However, we sincerely hope that the families in this case in Quebec will be able to come to a resolution," the company said.
In Sault Ste, Marie, Ont., two women are sharing the prize they won from the Tim Hortons roll-up-the-rim contest.
Manuela Phillips and Kristine Dahlmann had shared free doughnuts and coffees in the past, but they were shocked when Dahlman unrolled the big win Thursday: a Toyota RAV4.
They had an agreement to share the prize.