The Legal Forces in the USA for many years have been rooting in suspects garbage with the backing of the top courts. The rulings have always been once an item was placed in a trash receptacle, and not on a person’s private land, it was considered surrendered to who ever takes it thereafter.
How did this ruling not fall under those rulings?
I too wondered if this says police can not search trash any more. So I read the article. It appears:
1. The woman who bought the ticket later returned to the store.
2. The ticket was scanned and returned as not a winner.
3. The woman dropped said ticket into a can on the counter for discarded tickets.
4. The second woman apparently not employed by the store at some point later took a bunch of tickets from the can to recheck. [I am not sure if rechecking could be because some people just look at posted numbers and do not have the tickets scanned? ]
My view is:
A. The second woman legally is due to winnings, unless somehow she involved in a scam to falsely tell the person who bought the ticket it was not a winner.
B. The woman who bought the ticket has a cause of action for $1,000,000 against the store or the lottery system and the software company depending on who owns the machine in the store that told her her ticket was not a winner, unless somehow she is lying about scanning the ticket and just read the numbers and concluded on her own she did not win.
I am not an attorney but that is how I see it.