Last week, the Court of Appeal (Third Appellate District) handed down Progressive West Ins. Co. v. Superior Court, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Dec. 28, 2005). The decision has a lengthy discussion of each of the three prongs of the UCL—"unfair," "fraudulent" and "unlawful." This is a post-Prop. 64 case that was filed after the effective date of the amendments. Accordingly, the fact that the opinion applies the ordinary definition of "fraudulent" conduct—"likely to be deceived"—is significant. (Slip op. at 30-31 & n.4.) Also, the Court held, after careful analysis, that the pre-Cel-Tech formulation of "unfair" governs consumer actions. (Slip op. at 32-35.) The final interesting thing about this opinion is that the Court determined that a violation of a common-law doctrine will support an "unlawful" prong claim (although such a violation was not pleaded in the case before it). (Slip op. at 35-36.) There are plenty of published cases that say, in general terms, that "any law," including "court-made" laws, will support a UCL "unlawful" prong claim, but there are very few cases in which the Court actually analyzed that type of "unlawful" prong claim.
Comments