Wage Law

Tomorrow, the California Supreme Court Case will hear oral argument in Californians for Disability Rights v. Mervyns LLC (Case No. S131798). The Supreme Court granted a petition for review after the Court of Appeal denied a motion to dismiss an appeal from the judgment in a civil action. This case presents the following issue:

Do the provisions of Proposition 64 (Gen. Elec. (Nov. 2, 2004)) that limit standing to bring an action under the Unfair Competition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code, section 17200 et seq.) to "any person who has suffered injury in fact and has lost money or property as a result of such unfair competition" (Bus. & Prof. Code, section 17204, as amended) apply to actions pending when the provisions of the proposition became effective on November 3, 2004?

There are numerous companion cases:

S132443  BENSON v. KWIKSET CORPORATION 
S132695  BIVENS v. COREL CORPORATION 
S133075  LYTWYN v. FRYS ELECTRONICS 
S133938  THORNTON v. CAREER TRAINING CENTER 
S134073  SCHULZ v. NEOVI DATA CORPORATION 
S135104  COHEN v. HEALTH NET 
S135587  CONSUMER ADVOCACY GROUP v. KINTETSU ENTERPRISES 
S138751  SCHWARTZ v. VISA INTERNATIONAL SERVICE ASSOCIATION 
S140272  HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE v. S.C. (TURNER) 
S140396  BIVENS v. GALLERY CORPORATION 

On the same calendar, the Supreme Court will hear Branick v. Downey Savings & Loan Assn., which will answer the followup question:

If the standing limitations of Proposition 64 apply to actions under the Unfair Competition Law that were pending on November 3, 2004, may a plaintiff amend his or her complaint to substitute in or add a party that satisfies the standing requirements of Business and Professions Code section 17204, as amended, and does such an amended complaint relate back to the initial complaint for statute of limitations purposes?

This, too, has many companion cases, some of which overlap.

S133938  THORNTON v. CAREER TRAINING CENTER 
S134073  SCHULZ v. NEOVI DATA CORPORATION 
S135104  COHEN v. HEALTH NET 
S135587  CONSUMER ADVOCACY GROUP v. KINTETSU ENTERPRISES 
S138751  SCHWARTZ v. VISA INTERNATIONAL SERVICE ASSOCIATION 
S140272  HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE v. S.C. (TURNER) 
S140396  BIVENS v. GALLERY CORPORATION 
S141766  YOUNG AMERICA CORPORATION v. S.C. (LYNCH) 

Oral argument will be May 31, 2006, at 9:00 a.m. in the Supreme Court's San Francisco courtroom. I am sure The UCL Practitioner will have plenty to say about the hearings.