Financial Elder Abuse Litigation in 2026: Holding Those Who Commit Elder Abuse

Older Americans are estimated to lose around $30 billion annually to financial exploitation. A growing portion of losses are attributable to cyber scams, often run by criminal networks overseas. According to the FBI ic3’s most recent Internet Crime Report older Americans reported cyber-crime losses of $4.885 billion in 2024 (a staggering figure given most abuse is not reported). The program will include an overview of the financial abuse protections in California’s Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (EADACPA) focusing on “assisting” liability under EADACPA including the recent history of civil litigation seeking to hold financial institutions responsible for their role in facilitating scams against the elderly when they knew or should have known that their customer was being scammed. Anne Marie Murphy and Theresa Vitale will provide case examples and examine the current split between state trial courts and federal courts in interpreting the “assisting” liability language of EADACPA. They will provide insight into how financial industry defendants defend cases and the public policy debate surrounding how best to protect elders. They will share lessons learned about what makes a viable case.