In Elder v. Pacific Bell Tel. Co., ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Apr. 30, 2012), the Court of Appeal (First Appellate District, Division Three) reversed the trial court's judgment following an order sustaining the defendant's demurrer to the UCL and other claims without leave to amend.
The action was predicated on violations of certain Public Utilities Code provisions. After rejecting the defendants' exclusive and primary jurisdiction arguments, the Court of Appeal held that the complaint stated a cause of action for violation of the UCL's "unlawful" prong. Slip op. at 14-15.
The Court thus had no occasion to consider the other prongs:
“Ordinarily, a general demurrer does not lie as to a portion of a cause of action and if any part of a cause of action is properly pleaded, the demurrer will be overruled.” (Fire Ins. Exchange v. Superior Court (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 446, 452.) Consequently, in light of our determination that a UCL cause of action has been stated based on an unlawful business practice for a violation of [Public Utilities Code] section 2890, we need not, and do not address defendants’ other challenges to the UCL cause of action.
Id. at 15 n.14.
Comments