***please help/share some advice

[antoine47]

situation is this:

1 man bought some scratchcards, paid with cash, then went to spend evening with 2 friends drinking beers etc. then 1 friend started checking cards - 1 was winning one - £300,000. he told they would all share as other times friend use to also buy some scratchcards. Friend kept the winning card, took all the money and kept it, spent some of it never shared/splitted. Man who bought cards dont have the receipt, speaks poorly in english. There was no agreement written regarding winning/potential prizes.
He trusted his friend and got left with nothing, my question is what would you do if you were in his shoes ? Is there anything to do from legal standpoint ?

appreciate any help

[atticus]

Is this a student question?

[antoine47]

Is this a student question?

sorry if its worded poorly, tried to describe it best i could while keeping it fairly simple, dont know nothing about law, the story is true i want to find out if there is anything that can be done and if so , where it should be started

[Sam101]

Doubt anyone could make a claim, but anything is possible if there is money to be paid out to lawyers when loosing.

If a man heavily drinking in a pub makes some vague offer of friendship, I doubt it could be upheld in Court, After all, its his winnings and not any other persons. This would differ if there was a written agreement to share winnings in a circle of friends, but not the case her. Suggest that your friend forgets about this and concentrates on his own activity rather than trying to gain advantage of someone whilst they are drinking.

[jaguarsuk]

Is this a student question?

I thought this too, I don't like to answer student questions because that defeats the point of the exercise the teacher has set them and whilst asking someone with more knowledge might be considered research, I think they need to be able to do it the old fashioned way.

For the OP, because I'm unsure whether or not this is a student question, I not going to provide a full answer. However, I will say that you should look at the parts needed to form a contract to consider whether any agreement could have possibly been reached and that who purchased the scratch cards is a red herring.

[atticus]

The true owner of the card may be able to report a theft to the police and to bring a civil claim under the tort of conversion for the return of his property (the scratchcard winnings). But proving it will be difficult. What does the other friend say? Will he give evidence?

[antoine47]

thank you everyone for your replies, story is true, I used to do some minor electric jobs, computer repairs for the guy, we see each other every once in a while, last week i saw him and he told me about it i couldnt believe. Clearly he was played, his own character is a bit of disadvantage here, his english is very basic. He tried to dispute it with the guy who took the scratch card but thats all. The money has been paid out and at least some of it were spent (i think he said something about land or property). All i could think of is reporting to police and then somehow try to get cctv footage from the store where he bought scratchcard. There was oral agreement but thats agree to disagree i guess?,

Third guy dont involve himself in it from what i understood it looks like he got a slice for keeping quiet, could he be a key to move this if he agree to tell the truth?

[Sam101]

Very doubtful, just get on with your life.