A waitress was tipped a lottery ticket and won $10,000,000. She was then sued by her colleagues for their share. Then she was sued by the man who tipped her the ticket. Then she was kidnapped by her ex husband, and shot him in the chest. Then she went to court against the IRS.
Her colleagues claimed that they had agreed beforehand that if any of them won the lottery, they would share the winnings. However, Tonda denied this, and rejected a deal offering her $3 million.
Her lawyer described the co-workers as ‘rats coming out of the woodwork’. Soon after, a jury took 45 minutes to decide against Dickerson, and said she would have to split the winnings. However, in 2000, the Alabama Supreme Court reversed this decision after an appeal.
Tonda’s ex-husband Stacy Martin, whom she had divorced in 1997, was shot after trying to kidnap her.
It started with Martin abducting Tonda, and telling her he was going to kill her. He held her hostage in her own truck. However, she managed to reach into her bag and take out her gun. She shot him in the chest, after which she herself took him to the hospital.
The IRS spent a decade fighting her in court about exactly how much she owed in taxes on the money. They were demanding $1 million in gift tax, on top of income taxes. However, the court ruled in Tonda’s favour.
By the end, she gave most of the winnings away to her family to set up a business. Not much else is known about her life nowadays, apart from the fact that she now works as a poker dealer in a casino
(source)
