A Miami-Dade judge said the wife of a lottery winner cannot go forward with a lawsuit against her husband until she can provide a legal argument to support her claim for half of his jackpot. ''She has no identifiable legal rights at this time,'' Circuit Judge Jennifer D. Bailey said. ``Where does the law say you automatically have a right to participate in the proceeds?''
Bailey dismissed temporarily the lawsuit Donna Campbell filed against her husband, Arnim Ramdass, an American Airlines mechanic who hit a $19 million Florida Lotto jackpot last summer with 16 of his co-workers. Campbell and her attorneys have 20 days to amend their complaint. They will try to prove that the money Ramdass used to buy the lottery ticket came from his work salary, which is considered a marital asset.
Campbell, 48, a former model, says her husband of three years tried to keep his good fortune a secret from her when he hit the lottery last summer. She claims he disconnected the phone line in their Miramar home and kept her from watching TV so she wouldn't find out he was a winner. She found out when she Googled her husband's name and the lotto press release popped up.
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