California Court of Appeal

In plaintiff's action against the Ford Motor Credit Company (Ford) claiming that Ford's billing practices under a retail installment sales contract in charging late fees is prohibited by the Rees-Levering Motor Vehicle Sales and Finance Act, and actionable under Unfair Competition Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, dismissal of the suit is affirmed where: 1) Ford's conduct of charging successive late fees for successive late payments does not violate Civil Code section 2982(k)'s prohibition on charging more than one late fee per delinquent installment; 2) plaintiff cannot allege Ford's billing practice is an unfair business practice within the meaning of UCL because the alleged injury is one plaintiff reasonably could have avoided; and 3) although Ford was the prevailing party, it cannot recover its attorney's fees pursuant to the Rees-Levering's reciprocal attorney's fees provision because the alleged Rees-Levering violation was merely a predicate to the UCL claims, and a prevailing defendant cannot recover attorney's fees under the UCL.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/19/2009
• Published 11/19/2009

Judges

• KLEIN, P.J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Fazio Micheletti, Jeffrey L. Fazio and Dina E. Micheletti, San Ramon, for Consumers for Automotive Reliability and Safety as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Levy, Ram & Olson, Arthur D. Levy, Erica L. Craven, San Francisco;  The Harris Law Firm, Aurora D. Harris, Orange, for Plaintiff and Appellant and for Plaintiff and Respondent., Severson & Werson, Jan T. Chilton, Mark Joseph Kenney, Regina J. McClendon and Joshua E. Whitehair, San Francisco, for Defendant and Appellant and for Defendant and Respondent.