Procedural Posture

[Saim Khan]

Plaintiff sued defendant, a voluntary bar association, alleging that the association engaged in an unfair business practice in violation of the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) when it refused to sell its membership mailing list to him. The Los Angeles County Superior Court, California, sustained the association's demurrer with leave to amend. Plaintiff elected not to amend. The trial court entered a judgment of dismissal. Plaintiff appealed.

Overview: vc 22350 california

Plaintiff alleged that he was a disbarred attorney who intended to offer his services as a mediator at relatively low prices. The court concluded that the association did not engage in an unfair business practice in violation of the UCL when, allegedly, it unilaterally refused to sell its mailing list to a person who intended to offer low-priced mediation services in competition with higher-priced services offered by some of the association's members. Plaintiff alleged no facts to suggest that the association was anything other than an independent economic unit in providing support services for its members. There was no allegation that the association had imposed any price controls on its members, or that the members had abided by such price controls, or that plaintiff was a member or otherwise was competitively disadvantaged by any such price controls. Nor did he allege that the association had monopolized the market for mediation services, or that it had attempted or entered into a conspiracy to do so. There was no allegation, nor could one infer from the complaint, that the association's refusal to sell plaintiff its mailing list significantly threatened or harmed competition.

 

Outcome

The judgment was affirmed.