Opinion ID: 810054
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: ucl

Text: The UCL prohibits unfair competition, including “any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising.” Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200. The plaintiffs allege RJR violated the UCL when, in October 2006, it “announced that it was terminating the Camel Cash program as of March 31, 2007” and “represented that holders of the Camel Cash certificates could redeem their coupons for another six months.” Compl. ¶ 67. They allege that “[t]hese representations were unfair and deceptive . . . in that they stated that defendant would provide merchandise redeemable by Camel Cash from at least October 2006 through March 2007 when defendant had no intention of honoring any requests to redeem Camel Cash certificates.” Id. [15] Because the plaintiffs’ UCL claim sounds in fraud, they are required to prove “actual reliance on the allegedly deceptive or misleading statements,” Kwikset Corp. v. Superior Court, 246 P.3d 877, 888 (Cal. 2011) (quoting In re Tobacco II Cases, 207 P.3d 20, 26 (Cal. 2009)) (internal quotation marks omitted), and that “the misrepresentation was an immediate cause of [their] injury-producing conduct,” In re Tobacco II Cases, 207 P.3d at 39. The complaint does not satisfy these requirements. [16] In particular, the plaintiffs do not allege reliance. They do not allege that they purchased additional Camel cigarettes in reliance on the October 1 announcement. They also do not allege that they delayed redeeming their saved Camel Cash certificates in reliance on the announcement. Even if they had alleged delay, they do not explain how this delay could have caused their injury: under the allegations of the complaint, RJR ceased accepting C-Notes for redemption as soon as it delivered the October 1 announcement, so delay could not have caused the plaintiffs’ loss. Given the absence of an alleged causal connection between the alleged misrepre12310 SATERIALE v. R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO CO. sentations and the plaintiffs’ injuries, the district court properly dismissed the UCL claim.10