By Sandy Skahen, Staff Attorney, Seniors Unit
When I met our client Bonnie (fictitious name), a widowed senior living in Orange County, she had stopped eating, was not sleeping, and was depressed and despondent. As we talked, I learned that Bonnie is a R.N. with a specialization in nutrition and that she was a winner of Miss Seniors California; and, that the reason she was in such a distressed state was due to the breakdown in her quality of life caused by a lodger.
Devastated by the death of her husband, Bonnie wanted to stay living in the home they shared and decided to rent out a room to make ends meet. She placed an ad on Facebook for the room and was contacted by an interested lodger. The respondents to the ad were Adam and Evelyn (fictitious names), a couple who were her age. When they came to her house to discuss renting the room, they took her for ice cream and a drive along the coastline in what Bonnie noted was a nice car. They shared that they had only recently met, and that Adam was the one who wanted a place to live while he “got on his feet.” Evelyn was recently widowed and did not yet plan to live with him.
Charmed and entangled
When Bonnie mentioned that she needed to do some work on her rental room, Evelyn regaled her with tales of her experience remodeling homes and explained how much she would like to help her with the work. Bonnie found them both charming and during their ice cream and drive, Adam agreed to give Bonnie $1,200 to keep the room on hold for him until he decided to move in.
After several other warm interactions between them, Adam moved into Bonnie’s home. However, he did so without signing a lease, contract, or paying the first and last month’s rent or paying a security deposit. After five months, Adam had still not paid any more than the initial $1,200 to Bonnie and had taken over her patio where she loved to garden. He stopped going to work and smoked constantly, making Bonnie sick. He also began to make sexually harassing comments to her when they were alone. Bonnie, who had become good friends with Evelyn, was embarrassed and did not want to hurt Evelyn’s feelings by telling her about Adam’s comments so she kept quiet.
During the same period, Evelyn helped Bonnie with her house by assisting her with small projects and soon she started bringing supplies and fixtures to Bonnie’s house, saying they were “gifts” for her to use in her house. What Bonnie didn’t realize at the time is that all their actions were meant to confuse and entangle her into a relationship where she did not feel she could press Adam for rent money and could not refuse Evelyn’s gifts and offers of help.
Finally, Bonnie worked up the courage to ask Adam not to smoke on the patio and to allow her to move the table and chairs he had commandeered. In response Adam flew into a rage, grabbed the table, and slapped Bonnie in the middle of her chest.
Disentangling with the support of legal guidance
By the time Bonnie came to us at the Community Legal Aid SoCal Seniors Unit for help, she had already obtained a temporary restraining order, but Adam had still not left the house. We encouraged her to contact the police to enforce the kick-out order, which she did. In a subsequent hearing, Adam was able to get a continuance which prolonged Bonnie’s anxiety and her upset at having to live with all of Adam’s belongings and the overflow belongings he had strewn all over her yard.
Unusually and alarmingly for elder abuse, Evelyn hired an attorney for Adam and was demanding money damages from Bonnie because he claimed she damaged his belongings, which he had left outside in the rain, and that he had accrued a large motel bill due to Bonnie’s wrongful eviction. Additionally, Adam wanted to return and live in Bonnie’s house while asking for a total of $13,000 in remuneration from her. Further, Bonnie also had to deal with Evelyn as she proffered bills for materials, fixtures, and $3,000 worth of labor spent working on Bonnie’s home.
We felt it was very important for Bonnie to understand that Adam seemed intent to continue to pursue her for economic damages no matter the outcome of the elder abuse permanent restraining order hearing. What is more, there was no guarantee that she would prevail in a hearing before a judge and would probably need to hire private counsel to defend herself.
Bonnie had no concrete evidence of any abuse, and Adam had Evelyn ready and willing to testify and corroborate Adam’s side of the story. A stipulated settlement was suggested to Bonnie, who wanted a guarantee about her odds of winning the elder abuse restraining order case. Although we felt she had a good case, the concern was that Adam seemed determined to exonerate himself no matter the outcome. Bonnie reluctantly concluded that if she could pay a token amount to Adam, his promise to drop his claims was the choice that could allow her to sleep at night and could end the nightmare in which she found herself. Bonnie and Adam stipulated to settle and although it cost her something, Adam moved his things permanently.
Today, the color has returned to Bonnie’s cheeks. She now understands she was “groomed” by Adam and Evelyn and has vowed never to be taken in again. Having to pay even token damages to an abuser was a hard pill for her to swallow. Nevertheless, Bonnie expressed her gratitude to us for the guidance and the sounding board we were able to provide her with during an extremely challenging time.
Responding to a growing trend
It has been the experience of the Seniors Unit that elder abuse judicial officers in the Probate Court are increasingly suspicious of attempts by seniors to evict lodgers that circumvent the standard Unlawful Detainer process. In the case of seniors who find themselves short of funds, the temptation to rent out a room is understandable, but fraught with pitfalls. The Seniors Unit is developing an outreach program on the subject of renting rooms in homes and so that seniors have an understanding about the ramifications of having to lawfully evict lodgers who do not “work out” after they have moved in. Seniors who understand the strict guidelines they need to follow before renting rooms may well decide that they are not willing to tolerate this risk and seek other methods to improve their income streams. Whatever they decide, this is a growing problem in the senior community, and another facet of the housing challenges that our clients face.
This project is funded in part through a grant from the California Department of Aging, as allocated by the Orange County Board of Supervisors and administered by the Office on Aging. The conclusions and opinions expressed may not be those of the California Department of Aging and the publication may not be based upon or inclusive of all raw data.
