The names of the characters in this book have changed to protect the identities of the people involved.
Protagonist Tom Taylor is quick to blame others for his considerable problems but he shares much of the fault mostly because of the poor judgement and vulnerability to being taken advantage of associated with the lingering effects of resolved substance abuse.
Taylor took out a short term mortgage from Oakbridge Financial because decades earlier he met its owner Robert Shipley when interviewing for membership in the Denver Country Club. Taylor dropped out when he learned that the club only accepts applications from white, Protestant, Anglo Saxon males.
When Taylor became late on payments no one would help him including his father who was going to give him the money necessary to resolve the $10,600 in late payments but he suddenly died and left his entire estate to Taylor's daughter Kay. Kay owed Taylor an amount equivalent to resolve the late payments for the down payments he made on a townhouse she recently sold for $100,000 profit but she refused to reimburse him in a timely manner.
As a result, Oakbridge withdrew an unconscionable $105,761 late payment out of $137,376 in total fees for the $375,000 loan from proceeds of the forced sale of Taylor's home/office at 12th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver at hundreds of thousands of dollars below value.
Taylor engaged attorney Pradka Slotte to sue over the loan which was illegal because there were no disclosures, credit checks and three-day period of recension required for residential loans by the federal Truth In Lending Act.
Slotte also alleged the mortgage was usurious for over 45 percent interest which is illegal in Colorado. However, Slotte miscalculated the length of time the loan was in place as nine months instead of 10.44 months which apparently invalidated the usury allegation.
In pointing out the discrepancy opposing Council Michael Miller ascertained the annualized interest for the home loan was "only" 42.6 percent. Miller abandoned the oath he took upon entering the Colorado bar of dealing with all members of the public with honesty and fairness and proceeded to stoop to lying, slander, deception, and seduction of Slotte to endear himself to his employers who he claims "love" him.
Miller persuaded Taylor to accept an $8,000 settlement that he never received which the Colorado Court of Appeals determined was "fraudulent inducement." Because of Miller's fraud Denver District Court Judge Eric Eldridge ruled that Taylor could file a new case and the confidentiality clause attached to the settlement was invalid.
