In the second of last week's pair of UCL decisions, Zhang v. Superior Court (Cal. Capital Ins. Co.), ___ Cal.4th ___ (Aug. 1, 2013), the Supreme Court held that Moradi-Shalal did not grant insurance companies special immunity from UCL liability. This excerpt is from the introduction:
We hold that Moradi-Shalal does not preclude first party UCL actions based on grounds independent from section 790.03, even when the insurer’s conduct also violates section 790.03. We have made it clear that while a plaintiff may not use the UCL to “plead around” an absolute bar to relief, the UIPA does not immunize insurers from UCL liability for conduct that violates other laws in addition to the UIPA. (Manufacturers Life Ins. Co. v. Superior Court (1995) 10 Cal.4th 257, 283-284 (Manufacturers Life); see also Cel-Tech Communications, Inc. v. Los Angeles Cellular Telephone Co. (1999) 20 Cal.4th 163, 182-183 (Cel-Tech); Quelimane Co. v. Stewart Title Guaranty Co. (1998) 19 Cal.4th 26, 43 (Quelimane); Stop Youth Addiction, Inc. v. Lucky Stores, Inc. (1998) 17 Cal.4th 553, 565 (Stop Youth Addiction).)
Here, plaintiff alleges causes of action for false advertising and insurance bad faith, both of which provide grounds for a UCL claim independent from the UIPA. Allowing her also to sue under the UCL does no harm to the rule established in Moradi-Shalal.
Slip op. at 2 (footnote omitted) (citing Moradi-Shalal v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Companies, 46 Cal.3d 287 (1988)).
Time permitting later in the week, I will provide more thoughts on Zhang in a future post.
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