San Mateo County Superior Court
In April 2014, CPM won an elder abuse jury trial in San Mateo County Superior Court. CPM represented a family in a dispute about the estate of longtime San Francisco resident Rudolph R. Cook. CPM alleged that the defendant Cyrus LaFarre, a neighbor of Mr. Cook, had duped Mr. Cook into amending his estate plan and giving his money to Mr. LaFarre. After Mr. Cook passed away in March 2013, the family learned that Mr. LaFarre claimed that he had been left the majority of Mr. Cook’s estate and had been named as the trustee of Mr. Cook’s trust. The amendment to Mr. Cook’s longtime estate plan was procured in August 2012, and purported to give most of Mr. Cook’s $2M estate to the defendant. The case was difficult, as Mr. Cook had passed away and much of the financial records and other documents had been destroyed. Despite that difficulty, the jury unanimously determined that Mr. LaFarre had committed financial elder abuse.
