Opinion ID: 4557271
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The IIPEA Claim

Text: An IIPEA claim is subject to a two-year statute of limitations. See Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 339(1). A cause of action does not accrue under California law “until the plaintiff discovers, or has to discover, the cause of action.” Fox v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., 110 P.3d 914, 920 (Cal. 2005). A “potential plaintiff who suspects that an injury has been wrongfully caused must conduct a reasonable investigation of all potential causes of that injury.” Id. at 921. A defendant’s fraudulent concealment will toll the statute of limitations “for that period during which the claim is undiscovered by a plaintiff or until such time as plaintiff, by the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have discovered it.” Bernson v. Browning-Ferris Indus., 873 P.2d 613, 615 (Cal. 1994) (citation omitted). In concluding that Oracle’s pre-May 6, 2013 IIPEA claims were time-barred, the district court analyzed evidence concerning Comcast, one of Oracle’s support customers, and determined that Oracle constructively knew of HPE’s ORACLE AMERICA V. HEWLETT PACKARD ENTER. 13 interference with the Comcast relationship as early as 2011. Oracle has not challenged that finding here, and thus has waived that issue. Paladin Assocs., Inc. v. Mont. Power Co., 328 F.3d 1145, 1164 (9th Cir. 2003). Oracle nonetheless argues that it could not have known about the “broader oneto-many scheme to interfere with Oracle’s relationships.” Relying on El Pollo Loco, Inc. v. Hashim, 316 F.3d 1032, 1040 (9th Cir. 2003), Oracle further argues that it could rely on the truth of HPE’s and Terix’s assurances that “they were not engaged in misconduct” even if an investigation would have disclosed the falsity of those assurances. Although fraudulent concealment tolls a statute of limitations for the time that a plaintiff cannot discover its claim, Bernson, 873 P.2d at 615, 619, Oracle was aware, at a minimum, of enough facts well before May 6, 2013 to discover its IIPEA claim against HPE. Oracle identified HPE and Terix in 2010, among others, as third-party maintainers of Solaris software who sought to attract customers from Oracle in the manner challenged here. And, in 2011, Comcast indicated that it would leave Oracle for HPE and Terix after HPE and Terix had made purported assurances to Oracle. In short, Oracle, was not “ignorant” of its IIPEA claim against HPE before May 6, 2013. Weatherly v. Universal Music Publ’g Grp., 23 Cal. Rptr. 3d 157, 161– 62 (Ct. App. 2004). Thus, the claim is time-barred for preMay 6, 2013 conduct.