Originally Posted by CP

Families steamed over winning Tim Hortons' cup
Mar. 8, 2006. 10:22 PM


MONTREAL (CP) — Two families are fighting over a vehicle valued at almost $29,000 after their daughters discovered a winning Tim Hortons coffee cup.

The dispute began after a 10-year-old girl named Marilou found the cup in the garbage bin of her elementary school in St-Jerome, north of Montreal.

Remembering the coffee chain's popular contest, she tried to roll up the rim but was unable to do so. Her small fingers were unable to loosen the cardboard so she asked the help of a 12-year-old school mate.

The older girl rolled up the rim and found it was a winner. The prize is a Toyota RAV4 SUV with a base price of $28,700, one of 30 vehicles being given away as prizes in the roll-up-the-rim contest.

"They took the cup to the school's day care service, and a teacher called both parents," said Nathalie Prevost, mother of the 12-year-old girl. She declined to name her daughter.

"The first parent to arrive there was Marilou's father, so he took the cup," Prevost said.

Prevost thought her daughter's helping hand deserved some recognition and she decided to call a local radio station to ask for legal advice.

"I wanted the name of a lawyer who could tell me if my daughter is entitled to some of the prize."

Tim Hortons spokesman Greg Skinner couldn't confirm if the cup is a winner because the prize had not been claimed. But he said the winner of the prize is whoever submits the cup's tab.

"If I buy you a coffee and you get a winning cup, it's your car," Skinner said. "I might be mad at you as your best friend but you're the winner."

However, because the girls are minors, Skinner noted, neither of them can claim the vehicle as a prize.

Marilou's father, who remained anonymous, said in a televised broadcast he wanted to give some money from the sale of the car to Prevost's family.

"But this morning they said they wanted everything, so now they'll lose it all because they went too far," he said.

But Prevost said she's not seeking a specific amount.

"It's not for me. It's for my daughter's education. I never wanted this to blow up the way it has."

Prevost said she doesn't plan to go to court but hopes the other family will find it in their hearts to recognize her daughter's part in their luck.

"At least I hope the parents save the money for their daughter's education and don't spend it for themselves," Prevost said.

As for the girls, they had a bit of a spat at school but their teachers got them speaking to each other again, she said.

"They weren't very close friends to begin with."

While the two families have not resolved the matter, the situation could get more complicated.

CBC-TV's The National reported Wednesday that a staff member who may have thrown the cup away is said to be considering legal action.

But it would a tough battle.

"The person who threw out that coffee cup, they gave up on it. It's gone, you cannot find who it was," lawyer Jordan Charness told The National.