Fresh Loaf

Some lawsuits, you just can’t believe actually made it to court, much less the Georgia Supreme Court.

A Georgia couple sued the NBC game show “Deal Or No Deal,” which did a gimmick where viewers could text message (costing 99 cents for each text) in order to qualify for a grand prize. After they sent text messages, and didn’t win, they sued NBC to recover the money they spent to send the texts.

Say what?

Here’s the summary from the state Supreme Court:

HARDIN ET AL. V. NBC UNIVERSAL INC. ET AL. (S08Q0323)

The Supreme Court of Georgia has unanimously ruled against a group of Georgians who wanted NBC to repay them for the cost of text-messaging their losing entries while playing a game featured on the show, “Deal or No Deal.” The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia had asked the Supreme Court to answer two questions before the case proceeds in federal court: Does Georgia law allow losers of an illegal lottery to recover the money they lost? And if so, may the losers recover that money from the illegal lottery’s promoter or organizer?

In today’s opinion written by Justice Hugh Thompson, the Court answered no to the first question, making the second question moot.

During each broadcast of “Deal or No Deal,” an announcer invites viewers to participate in the “Lucky Case Game” by selecting which of six on-screen gold briefcases is the lucky case. Viewers submit their choice through Internet or by text-messaging on their cell phones. While there is no charge to play the game on-line, text messaging costs the viewer $.99. Toward the end of the program, the winning briefcase is revealed. Those who picked the “lucky case” are entered into a random drawing for that night’s prize, which can be as high as $100,000. (The game is no longer offered to Georgia residents.)

Michael and Michele Hardin, on behalf of themselves and other Georgians, sued NBC hoping to recover their test message charges under state gambling law, which they say entitles them to relief. That law, Official Code of Georgia § 13-8-3, states that “gambling contracts are void,” and that any “money paid…upon a gambling consideration may be recovered from the winner by the loser.” The public policy behind the law is “that the winner shall not be protected in his unlawful gains, and that the loser, though party to an illegal wager, may sue and recover back the money.”

However, in today’s opinion, the Court finds that to state a claim under the law, “plaintiffs must allege that a ‘gambling contract,’ which was supported by a ‘gambling consideration,’ existed between the parties.” In this case, the text messaging fees do not constitute a bet or a wager, and there was no gambling contract between Georgians and NBC, the opinion says. As a result, the law “offers no avenue of recovery to plaintiffs.”

(Photo: NBC.com)

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