"For those people who particularly were kind of victimized ... I think it will be very significant," said Michael Maddigan, an attorney with Hogan Lovells.

Though L.A. County no longer offers a PACE program, PACE loans remain available to many county residents because their cities —including Los Angeles — allow PACE financing through statewide programs.

Homeowners who took out loans through those programs are not part of the settlement and not entitled to relief — even if their loan came from Renew Financial or Renovate America.

Eligible homeowners will receive written notification of the settlement by mail.

For Zenia Ocana the prospect of help is welcome news.

In 2016, Ocana and her husband Juan decided to get solar panels on their North Hollywood home and ended up with a Renew Financial loan through the county's program that left them with no residual income to live on, according to a complaint in one of the settling suits.

In an interview, Ocana, 54, said the contractor who signed them up for the loan told them the solar panels would be paid for by the government and cost her family nothing.

The Ocanas received no documents in Spanish from Renew Financial even though they don't understand complex documents in English and were charged nearly three times the normal rate for solar panels, the lawsuit alleged.

To afford the nearly $4,500 in annual loan payments, Ocana said she and her husband have cut back on food, relied on help from family and delayed other bills.

The settlement, Ocana said, provides her hope that "we can be free of this nightmare."

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.