Fight over million-dollar soda goes to court

Wednesday, July 19, 2000 | 12:07 p.m.

Ownership of a soft drink will mean some hard cash - and hard feelings - for two Las Vegas co-workers.

A jury will decide the $1 million question of who owns a grand prize winning bottle of Pepsi Cola and who is left with only fizz.

Judy Richardson, a devoted Pepsi drinker, claims she bought the 20-oz. lucky bottle on March 17, 1998, and never drank from it during her shift at Wild Oats Community Market, a health food store. She said she left it in her usual spot on a counter at the store when she left for the day.

Fellow employee Sindy Allen says she discovered the winning bottle later while cleaning up. She asked fellow employees if the Pepsi belonged to them before pouring the contents down a sink.

But before throwing the empty bottle into the trash, Allen said she noticed the winning "Globe Bucks" cap.

Allen's attorney, Benson Lee said Tuesday that the soda's level is a key issue in the trial.

If any quantity of the soda was missing when his client picked it up, "it couldn't have been Judy's," Lee said.

Richardson's attorneys, Lane Kay and Robert Goldstein, say the bottle was never opened.

"If it's full, it's not trash," Goldstein said, adding that, according to law, an attempt must be made to find the rightful owner of lost items before claiming to own them.

Pepsico Inc. has washed its hands of the lawsuit, promising to pay the winner in yearly $50,000 payments as soon as the trial ends in District Court.

Allen, a 20-year-old theater student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said she did not know to whom the bottle belonged when she found it.

Richardson, who said she bought the bottle at the nearby Oasis Market as is her daily habit, confronted Allen the next day after a co-worker broke the news to her.

"Finders keepers," she said Allen responded.

The chances of winning the big prize is 1 in 545 million.