Opinion ID: 2516402
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Tortious interference and UCL claims

Text: We now turn to plaintiffs' remaining claimstortious interference with business relations and violations of the UCL. These claims encompass a wide range of misconduct due, in part, to the breadth of these causes of action and some haziness in the pleadings. After reviewing the alleged misconduct, we conclude these claims are barred to the extent they focus on the individual misdeeds of each defendant. They, however, are not precluded to the extent they are predicated on the conspiratorial misconduct of defendants. As an initial matter, we note that neither tortious interference nor the UCL requires a motive that violates a fundamental public policy. Tortious interference claims encompass wrongful interferences and do not require an improper motive. ( Della Penna v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (1995) 11 Cal.4th 376, 392-393, 45 Cal.Rptr.2d 436, 902 P.2d 740 ( Della Penna ).) The UCL focuses solely on conduct and prohibits `anything that can properly be called a business practice and that at the same time is forbidden by law.' ( Barquis, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 113, 101 Cal.Rptr. 745, 496 P.2d 817, quoting Note, Unlawful Agricultural Working Conditions as Nuisance or Unfair Competition (1968) 19 Hastings L.J. 398, 408-409.) As a result, to state a claim under the [UCL] one need not plead and prove the elements of a tort. Instead, one need only show that `members of the public are likely to be deceived.' ( Bank of the West v. Superior Court (1992) 2 Cal.4th 1254, 1267, 10 Cal.Rptr.2d 538, 833 P.2d 545, quoting Chern v. Bank of America (1976) 15 Cal.3d 866, 876, 127 Cal.Rptr. 110, 544 P.2d 1310.) Thus, these claims only escape preemption if the underlying acts fall outside the scope of the compensation bargain. An examination of the alleged acts underlying plaintiffs' tortious interference and UCL claims yields mixed results. These acts fit into two categories: (1) individual acts of a defendant that establish a pattern or practice of mishandling plaintiffs' lien claims; or (2) acts in furtherance of a conspiracy among defendants to mishandle plaintiffs' lien claims. As explained below, we find plaintiffs' tortious interference and UCL claims barred to the extent they are predicated on the first category of misconduct but permissible to the extent they are based on the second. The first category of misconduct covers the wrongful acts of each individual defendant during the claims process and is virtually identical to the misconduct alleged in plaintiffs' abuse of process and fraud claims. The mere fact that an individual insurer has a pattern or practice of bad faith delays or denials of payment is not enough to insulate a cause of action from preemption where, as here, each wrongful act is closely connected to a normal insurer activitythe processing of medical lien claims. Indeed, such misconduct is indistinguishable from the insurer misconduct alleged in the claims barred by Marsh, supra, 49 Cal.3d at pages 9-11, 259 Cal.Rptr. 733, 774 P.2d 762. [9] In contrast, the second category involves far more than the pattern or practice of an individual insurer. This misconduct consists of a conspiracy among multiple insurers to coordinate the economic destruction of plaintiffs through the mishandling of their lien claims. By joining this conspiracy, each individual defendant necessarily became involved in claims it did not insure. Thus, the second category of misconduct is almost identical to the misconduct underlying plaintiffs' Cartwright Act claim and cannot be connected to a normal insurer activity. Accordingly, plaintiffs' tortious interference and UCL claims are not barred to the extent they are predicated on defendants' conspiratorial acts. In closing, we stress that our decision today merely holds that some of plaintiffs' claims are not barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the WCA. We make no judgment as to the viability of these claims, and defendants are free to challenge them on any other grounds.