Opinion ID: 1153673
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Plaintiff's fourth cause of action: whether the bank has performed acts of unfair competition.

Text: Business and Professions Code section 17200 defines unfair competition to include any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business practice. (11) This language is intended to protect consumers as well as business competitors; its prohibitory reach is not limited to deceptive or fraudulent conduct but extends to any unlawful business conduct. ( Committee on Children's TV, Inc. v. General Foods Corp., supra, 35 Cal.3d 197, 209-210; Stoiber v. Honeychuck (1980) 101 Cal. App.3d 903, 927 [162 Cal. Rptr. 194].) (12a) The complaint charges two acts of unfair competition. First, it asserts that the signature card is used in a manner which is unfair, deceptive and misleading, in that plaintiffs are led to believe that it is a signature card for identification purposes and the defendants treat the signature card, without disclosure of said fact, as the legal authority to impose the NSF charge on plaintiffs' checking accounts. Second, it asserts that defendants arbitrarily and capriciously waive the NSF charge for preferred or commercial accounts, thus shifting the costs of processing NSF checks from those preferred customers to others whose accounts are charged. Neither allegation is clear and precise. After reading paragraph 38, we are uncertain whether plaintiff contends that the signature card itself is deceptive, or whether he contends that the bank employs misrepresentations or other deceptive practices in presenting the card to the depositor. If the latter is plaintiff's contention, the complaint should set out the challenged representations or practices. It is, of course, clear that if plaintiff can show that the card or the manner in which it is presented to the customer is deceptive and misleading, he can prove a cause of action for unfair competition. Since he seeks only injunctive relief under this cause of action, he need not show that he himself was misled; he need only prove that members of the public are likely to be deceived. ( Chern v. Bank of America (1976) 15 Cal.3d 866, 876 [127 Cal. Rptr. 110, 544 P.2d 1310]; Committee on Children's TV, Inc. v. General Foods Corp., supra, 35 Cal.3d 197, 211.) Thus the defect in plaintiff's allegation is not one of substance, but only of lack of certainty. Such a defect would not justify the sustaining of a demurrer without leave to amend. ( Minsky v. City of Los Angeles (1974) 11 Cal.3d 113, 118 [113 Cal. Rptr. 102, 520 P.2d 726]; La Sala v. American Sav. & Loan Assn. (1971) 5 Cal.3d 864, 876 [97 Cal. Rptr. 849, 489 P.2d 1113].) Plaintiff's assertion in paragraph 39 that the bank arbitrarily waives NSF charges for some customers contains a more serious defect. (13) Although price discrimination is often unlawful, depending upon the context of the act and the intent of the perpetrator (see the Unfair Practices Act, Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17000 et seq.), arbitrary price discrimination in itself is not necessarily illegal. (12b) This defect is one of substance; while plaintiff's accusation in paragraph 38 of deceptive and misleading practices describes acts of unfair competition, albeit in very general terms, his accusation of arbitrary waiver of NSF charges does not. Plaintiff could amend his complaint to add particulars which would show that the bank's discriminatory waiver of NSF charges violated some legal requirement. We are disturbed, however, that plaintiff has never advanced any theory under which the waiver would constitute unfair competition. Plaintiff has argued only that the waiver of NSF charges as to some customers shifts the processing costs to others. Even if true, that allegation would not suffice to prove unfair competition. In conclusion, the superior court properly sustained a demurrer to plaintiff's fourth cause of action, but erred in denying leave to amend. Plaintiff should be permitted to amend to set out the alleged deceptive practices employed by defendant. The trial court would be within its discretion in denying leave to amend to claim unlawful discrimination in waiving NSF charges, but since plaintiff must be allowed to amend on the deceptive practices issue, the court may choose to permit amendment as to the waiver issue as well.