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 A feud between two sisters has finally come to an end. An 87 year-old Connecticut woman and her 84 year-old sister had been fighting over a $500,000 lottery prize for nearly five years before their case finally ended this week.
Theresa Sokaitis claimed that she and her sister Rose Bakaysa had a written agreement to share gambling winnings and that half of that money was rightly hers. Rose claimed however that they have canceled any such agreement a year before the big win citing a dispute they had over the repayment of a $250 loan. She said that since the agreement had been ended mutually she did not have any responsibility to pay her sister half of her winnings and that she had every right to spend her winnings how she sees fit.
It turns out that the judge agreed with her sentiment. The judge ruled that since the contract was no longer in force before Bakaysa and her brother won the Powerball prize she had no right to claim the money.
"What came between these sisters was money," said New Britain, Conn., Superior Court Judge Cynthia Swienton in a decision released yesterday.
"There is something in this tragedy that touches most people," she wrote. "While the court may be able to resolve the legal dispute, it is powerless to repair the discord and strife that now overshadows the once harmonious sisterly relationship."
"Of course it's a tragedy, but things happen in life," said William Sweeney, attorney for Bakaysa, about the sisters' disagreement. "My client had pretty much taken care of this woman for a long time, and pretty much had had it with her."
Sokaitis argued that she thought the dispute would get resolved, and that she never intended for it to end their relationship - or their contract for that matter.
Sweeney said Bakaysa hopes the decision and time "will allow the bonds that have been broken by this case to heal."
Samuel Pollack, attorney for Sokaitis, did not respond for comment.
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