Meter still running on lottery lawsuit

After a pool of 23 taxi drivers tried to claim the $90 million jackpot from May 4, 14 other drivers filed suit to stop payment of the money. Nine of the 14 have since dropped their claims.

Among the drivers who sit at card games in the bullpen, there is more concern over Wednesday's shooting death of a Victory Cab driver in Marietta than a month old controversy over who really won a $90 million Big Game lottery jackpot.

"There's no tension, really," said one driver, who nonetheless declined to give his name. "The case is in court, so we're waiting for the results now."

However, one man pointed out by others as one of the winners denied the claim vehemently, and another said he was a chief from the driver's native Ghana who had come to settle the dispute.

After a pool of 23 taxi drivers who work at the airport tried to claim the May 4 jackpot, 14 other drivers filed suit to stop payment of the money, claiming they were regular members of the pool who were unfairly excluded from playing when their friends got lucky. Now nine of the original 14 excluded drivers have dropped their suits, but Atlanta attorney Howard Stopeck said he plans to continue the case for the remaining five.

"This case has merit and the basis of the claim is my clients had a verbal agreement," Stopeck said. "My clients did everything they were supposed to do according to the agreement."

The leader of the group, Max Ossei-Wasu, had collected $5 from 23 drivers the week of the drawing but not from Stopeck's original 14 clients. Stopeck said the agreement was that the small winnings from previous pools his clients had participated in were supposed to roll over to be used for future pools, including this one.

The problem is, Stopeck said, only Ossei-Wasu and the men in the group really know what the deal is, because nothing was written down.

"The only agreement is what he says the agreement is," Stopeck said.

As for the nine defectors, Stopeck said he can't be sure of their reasons for dropping out, but he suspects they were either paid off or threatened by the other drivers.

That's not so, said the same anonymous driver who insisted that all was well in the airport's bullpen.

"It was just a question of conscience," the driver said regarding the motive for the nine drivers' withdrawal from the suit.

Marion Ealy Jr., owner of Ealy Taxi Company, said one of his drivers, Solomon Puplampu of Riverdale, was among the 23 drivers who are part of Ossei-Wasu's group. Puplampu did not return several phone calls to his house and he was not available at the bullpen Thursday.

Ealy also said things are relatively peaceful among the drivers despite the ongoing lawsuit.

"I don't anticipate the case to come to trial," Ealy said.