Contra Costa Times
Friday FINAL EDITION
By Rebecca Rosen Lum, Times staff writer
Gov. Gray Davis has signed into law a measure boosting penalties for fraud in the sale of home equity contracts to seniors in foreclosure.
Dubbed "the Irene Feaster bill" for the Richmond resident who inspired it, the law increases civil penalties to $2,500 and the maximum fine to $25,000.
"A sick, elderly woman was pressured into selling her home for an amount well below market value," said state Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, the law's sponsor.
"It seemed crazy when I read about it in the newspaper," Torlakson said.
In December 2002, the Times wrote about Feaster, now 76, who had been hospitalized for treatment of breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease and early stage dementia when her home went into foreclosure.
She sold it for $10,000 in 1999 but says she never received the money. She was promised the right to stay there, but the buyer sold the home almost immediately.
It changed hands a number of times, and tens of thousands of dollars in loans were taken out on the Richmond three-bedroom.
Feaster's lawyer, Craig Nevin of Walnut Creek, has asked a court to undo all the real estate transactions back to the original sale. A tentative settlement is awaiting approval in Contra Costa Superior Court.
Court costs have taken their toll on Feaster, a diminutive woman who uses a wheelchair. Her telephone has been disconnected and her power cut off. Friends and neighbors bring her food and assist her.
She remains in her home of 30 years, and if a judge OKs the settlement, she will stay there the rest of her life.
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