Don't forget Ty committed a crime, too, in all this. No matter how you look at it. One his lawyer put on the dockets as his "side of the story". I hope they get passed onto the proper authorities. His lawyer likely had no idea that Ty couldn't legally represent the IRCF in their state
Nor run an auction in his state without being an official representative for a Not for profit (which, again, he can't legally be one for them because of where they are located, and the laws there strictly prohibit him from representing their not for profit). His auction was never legal in the first place, if I am reading these laws correctly.
Putting aside WHY OP would not give her address initially (even though she had very good reasons IMO, like what are you even sending to me?? For all she knew at that time, he was planning on sending her a box of human excrement, she was SIMPLY trying to confirm that she was being guaranteed exactly what she won, not some toy yodas vs. the toyota she was promised, and all she wanted was him saying that in writing - which he clearly refused to do at the time, instead dancing around her questions and giving her cryptic and not concrete answers which was very deliberate, and then topping it off by threatening her with an arbitrary deadline to claim her prize)
Even if you completely
ignored her reason why (as so many Ty apologists seem to be doing), you have to realize that he NOW has her address and has had it for, what, months now? He lost his excuse for not giving her the prize she'd won in the very moment he received that information. Even if it was delivered in a lawsuit letter. A normal rational person would have realized "well, I have her address now, so I can send her prize now, nothing is stopping me" and then do so. (Though obviously giving some heads up first would be smart as we are talking about a LIVING ANIMAL here, and ofc document the heck out of the exchange). Once he did that, her case against him would have been dismissed (with prejudice) as he followed through on his end of the contract of sending the prize. His reaction to the lawsuit would have been to satisfy his half of the contract in that moment. But he refused. He refused even when the then judge/court employee (I forget which) asked him if he'd be willing to satisfy his end of the contract and have the whole thing dropped. He said NO even though there was nothing at that point in time stopping him.
His defense is he has no defense at this time even if that was ever his defense back then. That's the first thing any decent judge is going to point out; "wtf is stopping you from giving her the prize NOW? What stopped you from giving it a week ago, a month ago, months ago? As in, at this time or any point in the last few months wherein you knew her address?" At no point did the auction present terms to the WINNER, either, beyond ticket cost and who to pay them to. At no point did it give HER a deadline to claim her prize which I assume means it defaults to FL statute of limitations. Which would have given her 4 years to claim what was rightfully owed her (that's the statute for all small claims in fl, if I'm not mistaken). FL lottery gives their winners 180 days, but it's written right on the tickets and signs and on their website. They post it everywhere and it is part of their contract when purchasing a ticket. Ty didn't even give her half that to redeem her prize once it was finally and supposedly "available to send her" after not being available for a month (two months?) after she won it.
