The legal teams for the players and for GTECH have begun preparing for the first Fun 5’s bellwether trial in Austin scheduled for April 25, 2022.
The lawsuit was filed by hundreds of Texas lottery players who were led to believe, by the instructions printed on the tickets, that they would receive a prize if their scratch-off lottery tickets revealed a Money Bag symbol. Many millions of dollars are at stake in this lawsuit which has spent years working its way through the trial and appellate courts of Texas.
The trial court judge in Austin, Judge Amy Clark Meachum, has ordered both sides to engage in a series of “bellwether trials” to allow the parties to analyze how juries will react to the case. The results of the bellwether trials may give the parties the information they need to decide whether to settle the mass action lawsuit or to try the remaining cases.
Judge Meachum ordered each side to designate two plaintiffs and/or Intervenors to serve as representative plaintiffs in the first bellwether trial scheduled for April 25, 2022. Plaintiffs and Intervenors have designated Lena Kelly and Russell Brackett. GTECH has designated Jason Feagin and Zeeshan Kadiwal.
The designations can be read here:
Plaintiffs-Designation-of-Bellwether-Plaintiffs
GTECHs-Designation-of-Bellwether-Plaintiffs-Intervenors
In preparation for the first bellwether trial, the plaintiffs’ legal team, led by Mark Lanier at the Lanier Law Firm in Houston, in coordination with its co-counsel at the LaGarde Law Firm and the Sternberg Law Firm, filed Plaintiff’s Seventh Discovery Request on GTECH. A copy of the discovery request served on GTECH can be read here: