Winner, Then Loser, Sues for 10 ‘McMillions’

Thelma Bellows wants her 10 McMillion dollars back.

Bellows claims McDonald’s handed her a raw deal when it announced her as the winner of a $10-million prize only to take it back hours later when the restaurant chain learned her daughter worked under the Golden Arches.

Rules in the “McMillions” contest prohibit any prizes going to immediate family members of employees of McDonald’s, NBC-TV or their franchises.

A lawsuit filed by Bellows seeks $10 million in damages against McDonald’s Corp., NBC-TV and a local McDonald’s franchise.

According to the suit, Bellows and her husband, Charles, went into a McDonald’s restaurant in Auburn, near Bay City, on Oct. 11, purchased a meal and got the McMillions ticket.

Their married daughter, Charlene Saunders, was working in the restaurant’s drive-up window at the time but did not wait on them and did not give them the ticket, the suit states.

When the couple learned from an NBC broadcast that they had the winning numbers, they received instructions from a McDonald’s operator and drove to Detroit to claim their prize.

According to the suit, a McDonald’s official first told the couple that their daughter’s job was no problem but later the same day he was reversed by higher-ups at the company and the prize was withdrawn.