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AUSTIN – A Texas man who has mounted a two-year fight to spur Texas Lottery officials to explain how a lottery agent stole his $1 million winning lottery ticket has filed a lawsuit against Texas Lottery and the Grand Prairie, Texas, convenience store where the ticket was sold.

The lawsuit, filed by Austin-based law firm Howry Breen & Herman LLP on behalf of lottery winner Willis Willis, comes after lottery officials have consistently blocked efforts to obtain information about the May 2009 theft of Mr. Willis' ticket by a Texas Lottery agent employed at the Lucky Mart in Grand Prairie.

"It has taken two years too long to pay Mr. Willis the money owed him," says Mr. Willis' attorney Sean Breen. "We simply want the Texas Lottery or the store to pay him the money that its own agent stole."

A frequent Mega Millions player, Mr. Willis purchased a winning ticket from the Lucky Mart in Grand Prairie. As was his practice, the Navy veteran and retired apartment maintenance worker returned with his ticket after the drawing and asked store clerk Pankaj Joshi to check his numbers. Mr. Joshi lied and told Mr. Willis that he had not won.

Mr. Joshi, who had previously been fired by the store for theft but re-hired, traveled to Austin and claimed the $1 million jackpot. Despite widely documented concerns about lottery fraud committed by clerks, the appearance of Mr. Joshi to claim the prize apparently raised no concerns among Texas Lottery officials, says Mr. Breen.

Texas Lottery investigators, the Travis County District Attorney's office and an Austin state district court judge have concluded that Mr. Willis is the rightful winner, yet the Texas Lottery maintains that Mr. Joshi, an indicted fugitive who has fled to Nepal, is the rightful owner of the ticket. Last year, a state district court judge turned over to Mr. Willis some $395,000 of his lottery winnings, which authorities had confiscated.

Based in Austin, Howry Breen & Herman LLP is a trial law firm that represents businesses and individuals in civil litigation throughout Texas and across the country. More information is available at www.howrybreen.com.

For more information on the case involving Mr. Willis, please contact Robert Tharp at 214-559-4630 or robert@androvett.com.