Woman wins '100 grand', gets candy bar, sues

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I love the edge!

Barry Taylor is teh funny.

586109484[/snapback]

That's a Barry funny observation.

[david]

Kind of like the Toy Yoda (toyota) prank.

[Southern Patriot]

^

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Yet another!

:no: :rolleyes:

[Orange Battery]

EXACTLY!

EVERYONE READ THIS PARAGRAPH!!! (Y) (Y)

586109489[/snapback]

Thats like the worst example on earth. If they said

"win a 100 grand"

then yes she took it out of its context but they no doubt said

"win 100 grand"

and as many radio station do offer cash prizes she was well within her rights to believe it would be cash. I don't know of any stations currently offering babies as prizes so if someone suspected that then they would probably be very delusional.

[zhangm Supervisor]

If I held a contest and said I am giving away A baby Ruth. How many of you would think I am giving away a little baby girl named Ruth? None would be my guess, but say you show up expecting a candy bar and I hand you a little girl... Can you sue me for not giving what your dumb ass assumed I was giving? I hardly think so. You can turn down the prize, in my case a little girl, this case a candy bar, but you couldn't get a judge to force me to give you a candy bar because your stupid, or "most people would be expecting a candy bar'. The world doesn't work like that.

And if the contest said that you are giving away Babe Ruth (distinguish between 'Babe Ruth' and 'A Babe Ruth')?

Such a faulty argument, do you really think that people are equally likely to assume that a babe ruth meant a baby named Ruth, as they are to assume that 100 Grand imples cash? What if I said here, have a million bucks. How many people do you know who would immediately think, "wow, that's a lot of male deer!" Be realistic.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I don't understand the Babe Ruth logic either. I do not see it as a valid comparison.

[Adster]

There are certain points that would make this a lawyer's dream in court:

1) I'm sure they referred to the contest as "Win 100 Grand!" If the station has a website, it would most definitely be advertised on there as well using the same wording. If they advertised the contest as "Win a 100 grand!" things might be different, but the fact that they said "Win 100 Grand!" Just shows that they knew they were being deceiving.

2) What this equates to is advertising. When a station advertises a contest with a large reward (which is what this contest was doing!) they do that to boost listener count. With higher listeners, they can charge more for advertising, and the station profited from this stunt. That is illegal.

No matter if you think shes a "dumb broad" or whatever, she is in the right. The radio station played dirty and is going to pay for it.

[RangerLG]

There are two ways to pronounce 100 Grand in words. It can be stated "a hundred grand" which is the name of the bar, or "one hundred grand." I would like to believe that the DJ cleared this with his legal or marketing people at the station prior to this "contest." A DJ, especially a late night one, usually cannot just do giveaways on the radio without approval. Also, when other stations do big giveaways, they promo it like crazy. You will hear stuff every day about their BIG CONTEST.

[Southern Patriot]

There are certain points that would make this a lawyer's dream in court:

1) I'm sure they referred to the contest as "Win 100 Grand!" If the station has a website, it would most definitely be advertised on there as well using the same wording. If they advertised the contest as "Win a 100 grand!" things might be different, but the fact that they said "Win 100 Grand!" Just shows that they knew they were being deceiving.

586109603[/snapback]

Well, they also could have used the wording (on the air) "win a hundred grand" or "win one hundred grand", which could be taken either way. Without confirmation (an audio clip of the contest maybe?) of exactly what wording was used, it's difficult to speculate exactly how it should be taken.

[Adster]

Wanna see something funny? Goto Gooogle News and do a search for "100 grand".

The 4th or 5th article down is this:

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/livin...od/11722375.htm

The article was posted May 29th, 2005 and the title of it is this:

THE 100-GRAND PRIZE WINNER

If you read the article, you'll learn that a woman won $100,000 (read: not a candy bar!) for winning a Chicken Cooking contest. To say that using "100 Grand" as slang will not hold up in court is ridicules.

EDIT:

Does anyone else think it's ironic that the article I linked also happens to be from Lexington, Kentucky? Didn't see that at first.... :p

[BroChaos Veteran]

I don't understand the Babe Ruth logic either.  I do not see it as a valid comparison.

586109602[/snapback]

There's a candy bar named BabY Ruth. If there was a contest that said "Win a Baby Ruth", and you won, and received a baby named Ruth, and NOT a candy bar, then what would you do?

Just because the general public makes an assumption, it doesn't necessarily prove anything.

[RangerLG]

I think he was referring to the term "Babe" Ruth instead of "Baby" Ruth. If someone told me I could win a Babe Ruth, I'd assume I was getting a dead baseball player. :)

[Adster]

Hmmm, guess what I found? A copy of the the lawsuit!

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0623051grand1.html

Guess what else? A screenshot of the contest announcement!

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0623051grand4.html

This is what it states:

-Since only 7 of you will actually be tuned in tonight and the rest of the nation's eyeballs glued to the IDOL Finale, HOT 102 is showing our appreciation to our loyal listeners with a chance to Win 100 GRAND!!!! It's sitting in a bag to my left ready for someone to take off with just like the Runaway bride! Here's how this is gonna work: Right BEFORE Mr. Seacrest announces the Winner (or before he teases the audience with another annoying "After the break!" bit) be caller 10 @ 280-1025 and you'll be 100 GRAND RICHER!!!

Deception, my friends.

[brainofj]

I think he was referring to the term "Babe" Ruth instead of "Baby" Ruth.  If someone told me I could win a Babe Ruth, I'd assume I was getting a dead baseball player.  :)

586109711[/snapback]

NO Why would I refer to a dead guy that you could win? Another candy bar is exactly what I meant. I know other individuals may not be able to type what they mean on here but I typed exactly what I meant.

A Contest to win a BabY Ruth, does not entitle you to whatever you interept 'Baby Ruth' to mean. If I went and dug up Babe Ruth to give to you, then there is a legal problem because I was giving away a BABY RUTH, not BABE RUTH. Thus a candy bar or baby girl named RUTH is what I can give. Asside from the whole legal issues of giving babies away.

How this hypothetical contest could be any more dead on appropriate to this topic, I do not know.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

There's a candy bar named BabY Ruth.  If there was a contest that said "Win a Baby Ruth", and you won, and received a baby named Ruth, and NOT a candy bar, then what would you do? 

Just because the general public makes an assumption, it doesn't necessarily prove anything.

586109688[/snapback]

Well I knew that a chocolate bar exists with a name somewhat like that. If we get Baby Ruth's and 100 Grand's here then they are not very popular. I know I used the term earlier in the thread but they are almost never referred to as "candy bars" here either.

According to our courts, the judge or jury would decide what a typical person would assume in that situation. Would it be more reasonable to assume $100,000 as a prize or a chocolate bar? Given that test, I would assume that $100,000 would be more reasonable for a radio station promotion. I mean, what's the point of winning a chocolate bar? It's not worth the gas/public transportation costs to go pick up the prize. Chocolate bars are only worth US$0.40 to US$0.80 anyway.

[Bennifer]

Where it says 'you'll be 100 grand richer' is where they just lost themself their case.

[thejohnnyq]

Cincinnati TV stations played the Promo and the contest info, they clearly say "100 grand", and "I see a duffel bag full of them".

They also talked about the candy bar over and over during the contest. While she was on the phone, after winning the prize she started yelling to her family and Friends that she had won $100,000, and was going to treat everyone, parents and children, the DJ transfered the call immediately to the General Manager, whom explained to her that it was a candy bar promotion. She hung up and told everyone that she won $100,000 and how she was going to spread the money out to family, and after several calls, she final understood, and then called the local TV stations.

She is wrong on this one, but then again cry loudly and complain to everyone, getting the sympathy. She said she was going to sue, on day one, because they caused emotional harm to her and her family, and wants what she thinks she won.

My favorite line from her 'You tell my kids they are not getting a new house, and that you mother was fooled by a radio station', i call and volunteered, but no one has returned my call.

BTW - This is old radio promo, WMMR in Philly used to do this, and so did Q102 in the 80's.

[Farstrider]

If you want to enter a contest, you should always call first to verify the information and the prize.

586109424[/snapback]

Perhaps then she would not have been the 10th caller then!! :laugh:

[BroChaos Veteran]

Well I knew that a chocolate bar exists with a name somewhat like that.  If we get Baby Ruth's and 100 Grand's here then they are not very popular.  I know I used the term earlier in the thread but they are almost never referred to as "candy bars" here either.

According to our courts, the judge or jury would decide what a typical person would assume in that situation.  Would it be more reasonable to assume $100,000 as a prize or a chocolate bar?  Given that test, I would assume that $100,000 would be more reasonable for a radio station promotion.  I mean, what's the point of winning a chocolate bar?  It's not worth the gas/public transportation costs to go pick up the prize.  Chocolate bars are only worth US$0.40 to US$0.80 anyway.

586109824[/snapback]

hmmm, different locations, different thoughts ;)

just shows how difficult interpreting things is....

reading over the lawsuit, they really seem to stress "breach of contract". was there really a contract agreed upon in the first place?

[pacifica]

That sucks! I would have sued the station also for false info....

586108731[/snapback]

but that may be hard to prove. if he never said $100,000 in "cash" and if he only said "a hundred grand" then it could be hard to prove.

all contests have rules and fine print, etc.. you can't just assume that you're going to win $100,000 without a hitch.

misleading - quite possibly, but then, most advertising is.

[lav-chan]

true that.... minivan (new)... ~$25,000.... a reasonable home... ~$80,000.... savings accounts anyone?

586108571[/snapback]

Our two-storey five-bed-room house (with a back yard) was $30'000. Our van (don't think it was new, but pretty close) was like $11'000. Not everybody lives in Dallas.

[RangerLG]

NO Why would I refer to a dead guy that you could win?  Another candy bar is exactly what I meant. I know other individuals may not be able to type what they mean on here but I typed exactly what I meant.

A Contest to win a BabY Ruth, does not entitle you to whatever you interept 'Baby Ruth' to mean. If I went and dug up Babe Ruth to give to you, then there is a legal problem because I was giving away a BABY RUTH, not BABE RUTH. Thus a candy bar or baby girl named RUTH is what I can give. Asside from the whole legal issues of giving babies away.

How this hypothetical contest could be any more dead on appropriate to this topic, I do not know.

586109793[/snapback]

Sorry, wasn't replying to you. Someone else said Babe Ruth, which is not a candy bar, but a long dead baseball player. Baby Ruth is the bar.

[jon419]

Was this piece of audio already posted in the past pages? I tried to skim and didn't see it.

I'M THE WINNER

[tronmaster]

Bah.

"100 Grand" is not one hundred thousand dollars. Of course the DJ was being funny and was purposely screwing people thinking that it was real U.S. dollars.

But to say breach of contract is utter nonsense, I bet she listens to the station prior to winning her "100 Grand" every day. And I bet the same DJ played "jokes" that were meant to deceive the listener. She had knowledge that this may or may not happen to her.

Can I say idiot?

:rolleyes:

[kevcart3]

I'm from the Lex. area and I've never even heard of this radio station before.