Supreme Court takes up additional "grant and hold" case on UCL insurer liability: Hernandez Henderson v. Farmers Group

Last week, on January 16, 2013, the Supreme Court took up a second "grant and hold" case pending resolution of Zhang v. Superior Court (Cal. Cap. Ins.), no. S178542.   The new "grant and hold" case is Henderson v. Farmers Group, no. S207068, and my post on the Court of Appeal's opinion from October is here.

In Zhang, the Supreme Court will addresses whether insurers enjoy a special exemption from UCL liability not enjoyed by any other industry.  The issues on review in Zhang are as follows: 

(1) Can an insured bring a cause of action against itsinsurer under the unfair competition law (Bus. & Prof. Code, §17200) based on allegations that the insurer misrepresents and falselyadvertises that it will promptly and properly pay covered claims when ithas no intention of doing so? (2) Does Moradi-Shalal v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Companies (1988) 46 Cal.3d 287 bar such an action?

The Supreme Court took up Zhang almost three years ago, on February 10, 2010. It would stand to reason that the case would be set for oral argument in the not-too-distant future.  The other "grant and hold" case is Hughes v. Progressive Direct Ins. Co., no. S195069, taken up in September 2011 (see this blog post). 

Henderson has been added to my list of pending California Supreme Court cases involving issues of interest related to the UCL, the CLRA, and class actions.  I have also updated this list to include several recent "grant and hold" cases involving class arbitration.