Litigation

This Just In: Supreme Court Rules Statute Means What It Says

By Bruce Nye

    On my long-term list of projects is a white paper on the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Civil Code section 1750 and following.  This set of statutes, one of the broadest consumer protection schemes in California, outlaws a host of practices in the sale or lease of goods or services, and then provides for recovery of damages, restitution and equitable relief for violations.  The statutory scheme also has somewhat relaxed class certification provisions.

    In a much watched case brought by customers against Sprint, the customers sought to have a binding arbitration provision and related clauses in their Sprint contracts declared unconscionable and illegal, based in part on the CLRA.  Sprint had not enforced these provisions against the plaintiffs. 

    Section 1780 of the CLRA provides that

    Sprint obtained dismissal of the CLRA claims on the ground that the plaintiffs had suffered no damage.  The Court of Appeal agreed.  And today, the Supremes ruled that section 1780 means what it says:  no damage, no lawsuit.  Meyer v. Sprint Spectrum L.P. (January 29, 2009) ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (S153846).

Full post as published by CalBizLit on January 29, 2009 (boomark / email).