Families Outraged After Illinois Fails to Pay Out $288 Million in Lottery Winnings - Yahoo News

Lottery winners in Illinois may have hit the jackpot - but they have not been paid.

The state recently announced that it was not paying out any winnings worth more than $600 until its budget crisis is resolved - but it's still running TV ads promoting the lottery.

An attorney representing some of the winners, Tom Zimmerman, has said there is a staggering $288 million in winnings waiting to be paid out.

Read: Fraudster Lotto Official is Now Accused of Rigging Other Games

One winner, Susan Rick, told INSIDE EDITION: “We won. We finally can have a comfortable life. Suddenly you're gonna the rug out from underneath us. We had a ticket for $250,000.”

A group of Chicago city employees had joined a lotto pool and won a million dollars - but they still haven’t seen a penny of it either.

Rhonda Rasche, a  49-year-old hospital clerk, said that after winning $50,000 in a scratch-off lotto, officials told her she'd receive a check in the mail in four to six weeks. That was a few months ago.

“I've been waiting for a check for $50,000,” she said.

Read: Lotto Winner Blew Through $27 Million, Leaves Daughter Broke

Rhonda has joined the other lotto winners who are suing to get their money.

Zimmerman, their attorney, said: “If any private business would engage in this kind of conduct selling tickets and not paying out the winner. The state would shut them down and indict them for fraud."

Families Outraged After Illinois Fails to Pay Out $288 Million in Lottery Winnings - Yahoo News

Apple ordered to pay $234 million to university for infringing patent - Yahoo Finance

 

U.S. jury on Friday ordered Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to pay the University of Wisconsin-Madison's patent licensing arm more than $234 million in damages for incorporating its microchip technology into some of the company's iPhones and iPads without permission.

The amount was less than the $400 million the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) was claiming in damages after the jury on Tuesday said Apple (AAPL.O) infringed its patent for improving the performance of computer processors.

Apple said it would appeal the verdict, but declined to comment further.

WARF praised the verdict and said it was important to protect the university's inventions from unauthorized use. "This decision is great news," said WARF Managing Director Carl Gulbrandsen in a statement.

Jurors deliberated for about 3-1/2 hours before returning the verdict in the closely watched case in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin. It was the second phase of a trial that began on Oct. 5.

The jury was considering whether Apple's A7, A8 and A8X processors, found in the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, as well as several versions of the iPad, violated the patent.

WARF sued Apple in January 2014 alleging infringement of its 1998 patent on a "predictor circuit," developed by computer science professor Gurindar Sohi and three of his students.

Much of the dispute over damages had to do with whether a certain portion of Apple's chips that were placed in devices sold abroad, rather than in the United States, also violated the WARF patent. The jurors found that they did.

Apple had sought to greatly limit its liability, arguing before jurors that WARF deserved less than even the $110 million the foundation settled with Intel Corp (INTC.O) after suing that company in 2008 over the same patent.

Apple had argued that WARF's patent entitled it to as little as 7 cents per device sold, a far cry from the $2.74 that WARF was claiming.

WARF uses some of the income it generates to support research at the school, doling out more than $58 million in grants last year, according to its website.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Conley, who is presiding over the case, ruled that Apple had not willfully infringed WARF's patent, eliminating a chance to triple the damages in the case.

Last month, WARF launched a second lawsuit against Apple, targeting the company's newest chips and devices, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, and iPad Pro.

The case is Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation v. Apple Inc, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, No. 14-cv-62.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Tom Brown

Apple ordered to pay $234 million to university for infringing patent - Yahoo Finance