Basher Posted March 13, 2006 Report Share Posted March 13, 2006 Un-fricking-real...Quebec school employee seeks DNA test on prize-winning Tim Hortons cupDENE MOOREStory 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted March 13, 2006 Report Share Posted March 13, 2006 Awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted March 13, 2006 Report Share Posted March 13, 2006 What about the cashier who handed him the cup? Doesn't she deserve her share too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted March 13, 2006 Report Share Posted March 13, 2006 Please, won't someone think of Juan Valdez?Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted March 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2006 At the end of the day, all of this is fantastic free advertising for Tim Horton's (as if they need it).It is also terrible free advertising for a certain Quebec lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneMtn Posted March 13, 2006 Report Share Posted March 13, 2006 frivolous lawsuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted March 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2006 Quite obviously. I have a question for you StoneMtn - why on Earth would a lawyer take this case? He says his client doesn't have money, so you can't think he is doing it for the cash.I also wonder if you could sue a lawyer for taking on, and charging for, a completely unwinable case...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 I'll bet someone goes after Tim Horton's here. Who owns the trashcan anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted March 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 I'll take that bet bouche - no way Timmy's has any liability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneMtn Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Basher:I suspect that this lawyer took the matter on a contingency basis, meaning that he gets a percentage of whatever is recovered. In my view, this lawyer probably has too much time on his hands, and is taking anything that walks in the door. There may be strategic reasons, though, as well. He may think that he can string this along long enough that everyone settles, rather than take this to court, and he still gets a percentage of the money. If he does little enough work on the matter, it could be worth it to him.In the final alternative, maybe this lawyer knows something that I don't about the law, or maybe there are relevant facts that aren't disclosed here, which actually do give his client a leg to stand on.Personally, if I received that phone call from his client, I wouldn't have taken this on, and wouldn't even have referred it out. I would have politely wished him [color:purple]"good luck". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 I suspect that this lawyer took the matter on a contingency basis, meaning that he gets a percentage of whatever is recovered.I thought that wasn't allowed.Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 I'll take that bet bouche - no way Timmy's has any liability. that was definately a rhetorical bet, but we could be 1 coffee I just see the idiot that thinks he owns the cup that he threw away contemplating ways to get money. I'm sure that suing Tim Horton's for SOMETHING is on his mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneMtn Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 I suspect that this lawyer took the matter on a contingency basis' date=' meaning that he gets a percentage of whatever is recovered.[/quote']I thought that wasn't allowed.Aloha,BradI believe you are referring to the law in Ontario. I am quite certain that used to be true in Ontario, but that was changed about half a dozen years ago. I can't say specifically regarding Quebec, but I expect it is permitted.It is certainly the norm in BC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Jane Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 hear him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esau Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Not that I'm taking the side of the guy who threw away his cup, but, I'm curious to how these girls even qualify, seeing as to claim a prize, according to the Rules & Regulations (at the bottom) you need to have reached the age of majority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freak By Night Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 (edited) I think the judge can cite precedence in this case, harkening back to "Snooze v. Lose".As in "You snooze, you lose, buddy!". Stop wasting the court's time. Edited March 14, 2006 by Guest spelled "cite" incorrectly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattm Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 I read from a tim hortons spokesperson that they aren't taking a stance. The prize goes to whoever (18 or over) hands them the cup and they don't much care who it is. This was a while ago when this was just starting so they may have jumped in by now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blane Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 crazy. To me this is easily solved:-Tell dude who threw teh cup away to go fuck himself. - Neither a 10 or 12-year old have much use for an SUV. Sell the piece of shit and split the cash between them, with a bigger % going to the 10 year old. Done, and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Boy 2.0 Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Eyebrows ..... up:What's a girl got to do to get a free coffee from Tim Hortons? Having bought an extra-large, single cream coffee every day for two years, Nadine Giguere, 25, thought she would have won something in the chain's Roll Up the Rim contest. But she says couldn't even score a free doughnut. One week after the Toronto woman complained of never winning a Roll Up the Rim prize, she learned the coffee chain does not distribute prizes evenly, and that she had less of a chance to win in southern Ontario. A few angry letters later, Nadine Giguere, 25, finally got her a prize without finding it on a cup. Tim Hortons placated her with an undisclosed prize. Says Tim Hortons spokesman Greg Skinner: "She was a loyal customer, and we wanted to show our appreciation." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattm Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 hmmmmmm, according to this (hijacked from tim hortons site)... southern ontario gets way more cups than anywhere else. Then again, I have a feeling TO is in that section so there may be lots more cups but there are also lots more people. Myself, I was disapointed that eastern ontario (ottawa) doesn't get too many cups This is part of a poster that is at the tim hortons at my work (we have one in the caf) I'd say the worst chance of winning would be in BC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phorbesie Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 hard to say...i mean there aren't many tim horton's in BC. i never even knew what tim horton's was until a few years ago. whereas they're on every street, in every mall, at gas stations etc., in ontario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 southern ontario gets way more cups than anywhere else. Then again, I have a feeling TO is in that section so there may be lots more cups but there are also lots more people.Myself, I was disapointed that eastern ontario (ottawa) doesn't get too many cups This is part of a poster that is at the tim hortons at my work (we have one in the caf) I'd say the worst chance of winning would be in BC Depends on how they calculate their odds of winning, if it's cups per total population, cups per demographic-slice-that-are-likely-customers, something like that. ad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patchoulia Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 The biggest loophole in this whole roll-up-the-rim thing is that "Free Coffee" can be ANY size!Even the super-biggest-caffeine-for-days one!mauahhhhhhahahaahhahahhaa!Take that corporate behemoth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Evil_Mouse Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 The biggest loophole in this whole roll-up-the-rim thing is that "Free Coffee" can be ANY size!Thanks for that, SP! I'd never won anything through this until last week, when at last I got a free coffee. Now I'll just have to milk it for all it's worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now