Lotto winner wins privacy
A judge ruled on Monday that a New Hampshire woman who won a Powerball jackpot worth nearly $560 million can keep her identity private, but not her hometown.
Judge Charles Temple noted that the case’s resolution rested on application of the state’s Rightto-Know law, which governs access to public records for the woman. She was identified as “Jane Doe” in a lawsuit against the New Hampshire Lottery Commission.
Temple wrote he had “no doubts whatsoever that should Ms. Doe’s identity be revealed, she will be subject to an alarming amount of harassment, solicitation, and other unwanted communications.” He said she met her burden of show- ing that her privacy interest outweighs the public’s interest in disclosing her name in the nation’s eighth-largest jackpot.
However, Temple noted that nothing in his order could be interpreted to prevent the lottery commission from “processing, maintaining or accessing Ms. Doe’s ticket in the normal course of business.”
The woman signed her ticket after the Jan. 6 drawing, but later learned she could have shielded her identity by using the name of a trust — something the lottery commission acknowledged isn’t spelled out on the ticket.
The woman’s lawyers have said only that she is from southern New Hampshire and doesn’t want the attention that often comes with winning a big jackpot.