she opted to receive $375,000 (£285,000) over 30 years rather than receiving her whole prize all at once. By all measures, this was a wise
financial decision since Dickerson believed she would never have to work again. Unfortunately, however, that was all she believed because harsh reality was about to set in.
As the IRS and even Seward attempted to take their cases to court, friends and coworkers began to approach her with legal challenges from every front.
She’s not the first lottery winner to discover that winning a multimillion dollar prize comes with more drawbacks than benefits. The largest barrier to her monetary reward, however, was her coworkers,
who, according to court documents, insisted that any lottery ticket proceeds offered as gratuities by clients would be divided evenly.
Dickerson thought it was hers, though, since it was a tip, and it led to a case in Mobile Circuit Court later in 1999. A jury found against the waitress in forty-five minutes,
