Legal Question in Business Law in California

A family friend of mine is mentally disabled and cannot read. He is over 70 yrs old. 2 yrs ago a young neighbor took him to a car dealer and got him to sign a contract for a 2008 toyota tundra. The young neighbor has the vehicle and had been making the payments last time we checked. The neighbor moved out of town. My friend now gets mail from dmv regarding lack of insurance, out of state speeding tickets and late registration notices on this vehicle. My friend has never had a drivers license and cannot drive. We have checked the title of the vehicle, it has him listed as co-owner and the loan is on his credit report. We tried to contact a fraud unit at Toyota motor credit and could not talk to anyone. The contract states "I have read and understand this contract" next to the signature. We can prove that he cannot read nor understand. He was manipulated and I consider this elder abuse. Local police have been no help. How can we get the contract nullified? Does he have any recourse at all? Is he exposed to liability from the vechicle from the other driver?


Asked on 3/14/10, 7:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

You need to call the San Joaquin County Elder Fraud hotline at: 209-468-2488. If you don't get enough help there, call Suzanne Schultz, coordinator of the Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse unit of the San Joaquin County District Attorney's office, at 209-486-2400. If you cannot get help from either of those offices, let me know and we'll see if I can help you come up with a "plan B."

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Answered on 3/20/10, 12:36 am


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