[!-- BEGIN OUTTER WRAP --][DIV id=ynwrap][DIV id=yncont][DIV id=ynbody][!-- END PRINT HEAD --][DIV class=printstory id=ynstory][!-- BEGIN HEADLINE --][H1][DIV class=source][img height=44 src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/nws/p/lo_cpo130.gif" width=130 border=0][/DIV]Quebec school employee seeks DNA test on prize-winning Tim Hortons cup [/H1][!-- END HEADLINE --][DIV id=ynmain][!-- BEGIN STORY BODY --][DIV id=storybody][DIV class=storyhdr][SPAN]DENE MOORE [/SPAN][EM class=recenttimedate]2 hours, 59 minutes ago[/i]
[DIV class=spacer][/DIV][/DIV]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.
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I believe garbage is not personal property.......at least in the US, thats why the cops can go thru ones garbage cans when placed out without a search warrant
Once one throws it away in a 'public' garbage can....I'd say he's terminated ownership.
(Nyaa nyaa nya nya nyaaaa. Finders keepers....losers weepers. that's what we said when we were kids. I think it holds true today) [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/froehlich/n015.gif" border=0]
P.C. wrote:
Once one throws it away in a 'public' garbage can....I'd say he's terminated ownership.
Yep, and the courts will agree.
I think so too TehBorken.[/DIV]I had to add the childish trialer, because that's how this man is behaving. He should be ashamed of himself.
i've gone thru about 4 cups of hot chocolate and my friends have gone thru about 20 cups of coffee and all we won are cups of coffee!
where is my car!?!?!
I'm sure it's parked out back, and as soon as they find the keys it's all yours. You believe me, don't you???[/DIV]I don't even drink their coffee, just so you have a better chance of claiming what is rightfully yours.
i'll split it with you??
Sounds good. Do you want the driver half or the passenger half?
i'll take the back seat half!
(http://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/4.gif)