Tim Hortons settles fight over winning coffee cup Updated Wed. Apr. 19 2006 10:18 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Tim Hortons is using the 'finders keepers' rule to settle a dispute stemming from its 'roll up the rim to win' contest.
The coffee and doughnut chain has decided the parents of a 10-year-old Quebec girl who found a winning cup in its annual competition last month will get the grand prize of a Toyota SUV.
The young girl, known as Marilou, was at the centre of a legal dispute after she found the discarded cup in the garbage can of her St Jermone, Que. school on March 6.
Unable to roll up the rim on her own, she asked an older classmate to help.
Her 12-year-old friend obliged, then both girls found they had a winning cup in their hands.
Both the girls' fathers went to Tim Hortons to claim the prize, but there was only one form to fill out.
Marilou's father filled out the form and the two men decided to talk it over, but then Marilou's parents later said there would be no sharing.
The situation took an ugly turn when the mother of the second child later called a radio station seeking legal advice and demanding a half-share of the car, which was valued at almost $33,000.
Then a janitor at the school waded in on the battle. He demanded the prize should be awarded to him as he had bought the coffee and thrown away the cup.
The janitor even hired a lawyer, who told the media he might go as far as to request a DNA test to prove his client was the rightful owner.
Initially Tim Hortons stayed out of the dispute, but ultimately decided the proper course of action would be to award the car to the Marilou's family.
Diane Slopek-Weber, director of corporate communications for Tim Hortons, confirmed on Tuesday that there were two winners of RAV4s in Quebec and one of them was indeed the St Jerome family at the centre of the prize-grab battle.
