45 Trial Lawyer • Winter 2023 By Young Walgenkim OTLA Guardian Note: The author thanks OTLA member Jeremiah Ross for his assistance with this article and the corresponding case. I was sitting in a downtown Portland coffee shop waiting for my client for a scheduled mediation when I saw a proud, dapper elderly gentleman through the glass doors. The man was assisted by his wife, struggling to get his walker through the glass door in the busy downtown coffee shop. As always, I was very happy to see him. The last time I saw him was at his deposition. At the deposition he was walking with a cane and struggled with mobility. His mobility issues seemed to be getting worse, and his severe health complications were getting worse too. Despite his health issues, he was upbeat and composed. After he took his seat and grabbed a cup of coffee, our legal team discussed an upcoming mediation against a car dealer who ripped him off. We felt liability was solid, which was going to guarantee our client’s attorney fees would be paid by the dealer. Because our claim involved financial elder abuse, we were in for treble economic and noneconomic damages against a defendant with deep pockets. We just had our punitive damages allegation confirmed by the court, so the sympathy value of my client with a walker was going to have a huge impact on the case. Despite the strong legal case we had concerns of how much time our client had and what was the best outcome for him at that time. The entertainer My client, whomwe will call Sam, was a 76-year-old Air Force veteran with a heart of gold. He lights up any room he enters. He is a retired social worker who specialized in drug counseling. He regularly volunteered in the community and served as a mentor for troubled youth in prisons. In his younger years, he had his own radio show, and, even at his age, he manages to be the entertainer at every opportunity. Sam is kind of like that cool grandfather we always wished we had. Seeing Samwalking in was the confirmation we had this in the bag. It is not surprising that even elderly consumers with hearts of gold are often targets of financial abuse. Consumer protection attorneys are intimately familiar with fraudulent schemes on the elderly because we see it first-hand all the time. This is especially true in the world of used car sales. It is no secret that shady car dealers prey on the vulnerable, especially the elderly. It does not matter if they are elderly consumers with professional backgrounds, such as lawyers and accountants, or people without formal education. Unscrupulous car dealers will sniff out their vulnerabilities in an effort to financially exploit them. Sam’s case was no different. This all started when Sam went into a large franchise dealer to purchase a car. He had a terrible experience with a small Young Walgenkim Protecting Elderly Consumers See Protecting Elderly p 46
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