3102. Financial Abuse - Essential Factual Elements— Enhanced Remedies Sought—Employer Defendant (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 15657, 15610.30)

[Name of plaintiff] also claims that [name of defendant employer] is responsible for [insert enhanced remedies]. To establish this claim, [name of plaintiff] must prove by clear and convincing evidence [insert one or more of the following four options:]

1. [That [name of employee] was an officer, a director, or a managing agent of [name of defendant employer] acting in [a corporate/an employment] capacity;] [or]

2. [That an officer, a director, or a managing agent of [name of defendant employer] had advance knowledge of the unfitness of [name of employee] and employed [him/her] with a knowing disregard of the rights or safety of others;] [or]

3. [That an officer, a director, or a managing agent of [name of defendant employer] authorized [name of employee]'s conduct;] [or]

4. [That an officer, a director, or a managing agent of [name of defendant employer] knew of [name of employee]'s wrongful conduct and adopted or approved the conduct after it occurred;] and

That [name of employee] acted with [recklessness/malice/ oppression/fraud] in committing the abuse.

An employee is a "managing agent" if he or she exercises substantial independent authority and judgment in his or her corporate decision making such that his or her decisions ultimately determine corporate policy.

Directions for Use

This instruction is intended for plaintiffs who are seeking survival damages for pain and suffering and/or other enhanced remedies, including attorney fees and costs, against an employer. Plaintiffs who are seeking conventional tort damages should use CACI No. 3100, Financial Abuse—Essential

Factual Elements (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 15610.30). The instructions in this series are not intended to cover every circumstance in which a plaintiff can bring a cause of action under the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act.

There appears to be a misprint in Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657(b). The reference should be Code of Civil Procedure section 377.34.

Sources and Authority

Welfare and Institutions Code section 15610.07 provides:

"Abuse of an elder or a dependent adult" means either of the following:

(a) Physical abuse, neglect, financial abuse, abandonment, isolation, abduction, or other treatment with resulting physical harm or pain or mental suffering.

(b) The deprivation by a care custodian of goods or services that are necessary to avoid physical harm or mental suffering.

Welfare and Institutions Code, section 15657.5 provides:

(a) Where it is proven by a preponderance of the evidence that a defendant is liable for financial abuse, as defined in Section 15610.30, in addition to all other remedies otherwise provided by law, the court shall award to the plaintiff reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The term "costs" includes, but is not limited to, reasonable fees for the services of a conservator, if any, devoted to the litigation of a claim brought under this article.

(b) Where it is proven by a preponderance of the evidence that a defendant is liable for financial abuse, as defined in Section 15610.30, and where it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant has been guilty of recklessness, oppression, fraud, or malice in the commission of the abuse, in addition to reasonable attorney's fees and costs set forth in subdivision (a), and all other remedies otherwise provided by law, the following shall apply:

(1) The limitations imposed by Section 377.34 of the Code of Civil Procedure on the damages recoverable shall not apply.

(2) The standards set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 3294 of the Civil Code regarding the imposition of punitive damages on an employer based upon the acts of an employee shall be satisfied before any damages or attorney's fees permitted under this section may be imposed against an employer.

(c) Nothing in this section affects the award of punitive damages under Section 3294 of the Civil Code.

Welfare and Institutions Code section 15610.30 provides:

(a) "Financial abuse" of an elder or dependent adult occurs when a person or entity does any of the following:

(1) Takes, secretes, appropriates, or retains real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult to a wrongful use or with intent to defraud, or both.

(2) Assists in taking, secreting, appropriating, or retaining real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult to a wrongful use or with intent to defraud, or both.

(b) A person or entity shall be deemed to have taken, secreted, appropriated, or retained property for a wrongful use if, among other things, the person or entity takes, secretes, appropriates or retains possession of property in bad faith.

(1) A person or entity shall be deemed to have acted in bad faith if the person or entity knew or should have known that the elder or dependent adult had the right to have the property transferred or made readily available to the elder or dependent adult or to his or her representative.

(2) For purposes of this section, a person or entity should have known of a right specified in paragraph (1) if, on the basis of the information received by the person or entity or the person or entity's authorized third party, or both, it is obvious to a reasonable person that the elder or dependent adult has a right specified in paragraph (1).

(c) For purposes of this section, "representative" means a person or entity that is either of the following:

(1) A conservator, trustee, or other representative of the estate of an elder or dependent adult.

(2) An attorney-in-fact of an elder or dependent adult who acts within the authority of the power of attorney.

Welfare and Institutions Code section 15610.27 provides: " 'Elder' means any person residing in this state, 65 years of age or older."

Welfare and Institutions Code section 15610.23 provides:

(a) "Dependent adult" means any person between the ages of 18 and 64 years who resides in this state and who has physical or mental limitations that restrict his or her ability to carry out normal activities or to protect his or her rights, including, but not limited to, persons who have physical or developmental disabilities, or whose physical or mental abilities have diminished because of age.

(b) "Dependent adult" includes any person between the ages of 18 and 64 years who is admitted as an inpatient to a 24-hour health facility, as defined in Sections 1250, 1250.2, and 1250.3 of the Health and Safety Code.

Civil Code section 3294(b) provides: "An employer shall not be liable for damages pursuant to subdivision (a), based upon acts of an employee of the employer, unless the employer had advance knowledge of the unfitness of the employee and employed him or her with a conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others or authorized or ratified the wrongful conduct for which the damages are awarded or was personally guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice. With respect to a corporate employer, the advance knowledge and conscious disregard, authorization, ratification or act of oppression, fraud, or malice must be on the part of an officer, director, or managing agent of the corporation."

"[A] finding of ratification of [agent's] actions by [employer], and any other findings made under Civil Code section 3294, subdivision (b), must be made by clear and convincing evidence." (Barton v. Alexander Hamilton Life Ins. Co. of America (2003) 110 Cal.App.4th 1640, 1644 [3 Cal.Rptr.3d 258].)

"The purpose of the [Elder Abuse Act] is essentially to protect a particularly vulnerable portion of the population from gross istreatment in the form of abuse and custodial neglect." (Delaney v. Baker (1999) 20 Cal.4th 23, 33 [82 Cal.Rptr.2d 610, 971 P.2d 986].)

"In order to obtain the remedies available in section 15657, a plaintiff must demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that defendant is guilty of something more than negligence; he or she must show reckless, oppressive, fraudulent, or malicious conduct. The latter three categories involve 'intentional,' 'willful,' or 'conscious' wrongdoing of a 'despicable' or 'injurious' nature. 'Recklessness' refers to a subjective state of culpability greater than simple negligence, which has been described as a 'deliberate disregard' of the 'high degree of probability' that an injury will occur. Recklessness, unlike negligence, involves more than 'inadvertence, incompetence, unskillfulness, or a failure to take precautions' but rather rises to the level of a 'conscious choice of a course of action . . . with knowledge of the serious danger to others involved in it.' " (Delaney, supra, 20 Cal.4th at pp. 31-32, internal citations omitted.)

"As amended in 1991, the Elder Abuse Act was designed to protect elderly and dependent persons from abuse, neglect, or abandonment. In addition to adopting measures designed to encourage reporting of abuse and neglect, the Act authorizes the court to award attorney fees to the prevailing plaintiffs and allows survivors to recover pain and suffering damages in cases of intentional and reckless abuse where the elder has died." (Mack v. Soung (2000) 80 Cal.App.4th 966, 971-972 [95 Cal.Rptr.2d 830], internal citations omitted.)

Secondary Sources

California Elder Law Litigation (Cont.Ed.Bar 2003-2005) §§ 6.23, 6.30- 6.34, 6.41-6.44

1 California Forms of Pleading and Practice, Ch. 5, Abuse of Minors and Elderly, § 5.33[4] (Matthew Bender)

(Revised December 2005)