Capon

The Home Equity Sales Contract Act (HESCA or the Act) (Civ. Code, § 1695 et seq.), 1 enacted in 1979, is designed to protect homeowners in default against unfair purchases of their home equity. The Act regulates transactions between an equity purchaser and an equity seller resulting in the sale of residential real property in foreclosure. Central to the legislative scheme is the requirement that the agreement between the buyer and seller be in writing and contain specific terms aimed at protecting the homeowner (§§ 1695.2, 1695.3, 1695.5). (Segura v. McBride (1992) 5 Cal.App.4th 1028, 1034-1036 [ 7 Cal.Rptr.2d 436 ] (Segura).)

*348 This case arises from a home equity purchase transaction involving plaintiff Daniel J. Capon (plaintiff) and defendants Sidney Gladney (Gladney), Monopoly Game LLC (Monopoly Game), Charles Prael (Prael), and Los Trancos Systems, L.L.C. (Los Trancos) (collectively, defendants). Following a bench trial, the trial court awarded plaintiff a total of $660,625.48 to compensate him for the home equity he lost in the transaction and for the conversion of his personal property. On appeal, defendants challenge the trial court’s findings that the deed…