MIAMI – A Miami judge says that the wife of a lottery winner cannot go forward with a lawsuit against her husband until she can provide a legal argument to support her claim for half of his jackpot.

The wife, Donna Campbell, and husband, Arnim Ramdass, are both Trinidad and Tobago nationals living in Florida in the United States. Circuit Judge Jennifer D. Bailey temporarily dismissed the lawsuit Campbell filed against Ramdass, an American Airlines mechanic, who hit a US$19 million Florida lotto jackpot last summer with 16 of his co-workers.

"She has no identifiable legal rights at this time," Bailey said. "Where does the law say you automatically have a right to participate in the proceeds?" she asked.

Bailey gave Campbell and her attorneys 20 days to amend their complaint.

They said they would try to prove that the money Ramdass used to buy the lottery ticket came from his work salary, which is considered a marital asset.

"It appears that once we do that, we can go forward and get a trial date and proceed with vindicating Ms Campbell's rights," attorney Bruce Baldwin said after Thursday's hearing.

Campbell, 48, a former model, said that her husband of three years tried to keep his good fortune a secret from her when he hit the lottery last summer.

She said that he disconnected the telephone line in their Miramar, Florida, home and kept her from watching TV so she would not find out he was a winner.

Ramdass, 52, and the other winners took a lump-sum payment of US$10.2 million, which worked out to US$600 000 per player before taxes.

When Campbell found out about the money, she confronted Ramdass. She said he told her he bought the ticket for his daughter from a previous marriage. But Campbell said that was just a ploy to defraud her of the money. (CMC)