Schwartz v. Visa 9/28/05 CA1/2

State: California

Court: 1st District Court of Appeal 1st District Court of Appeal

Docket No: A105222

Case Date: 12/14/2005

Preview:Filed 9/28/05

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION TWO

ADAM A. SCHWARTZ, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. VISA INTERNATIONAL SERVICE ASSOCIATION et al., Defendants and Appellants. (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. 822404-4) A105222

I.

INTRODUCTION

This is an appeal from a judgment entered after a court trial in favor of Adam Schwartz (respondent) against Visa International Service Association, Visa U.S.A. Inc. (collectively Visa) and MasterCard International Incorporated (MasterCard).1 Respondent's claims at trial were founded exclusively on California Business and Professions Code section 17200 et seq., California's Unfair Competition Law (the UCL).2 Visa and MasterCard (jointly appellants) allege numerous claims of error. We do not reach these claims, however, because we hold that recent amendments to the UCL, which became effective while this appeal was pending, bar the present action and require us to reverse the judgment.

A cross-appeal filed by respondent was dismissed by this court on October 26, 2004, pursuant to a stipulation between the parties.
2

1

Undesignated statutory references are to the Business and Professions Code. 1

II. proceedings below.3

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The issue we address requires only a brief summary of the lengthy and complex

In January 2000, respondent filed this action against appellants on behalf of the general public. Respondent alleged appellants violated the UCL by engaging in unlawful business practices relating to the "provision of currency conversion services in connection with Visa and MasterCard branded credit card transactions made in foreign currencies by U.S. cardholders." Prior to trial, respondent had alleged state and federal antitrust theories to support his claims. But he withdrew his antitrust and conspiracy allegations, pursuant to a trial court order, after appellants moved to stay this action pending resolution of a federal Multi-District Litigation class action alleging that Visa, MasterCard and several large banks violated the Federal Truth in Lending Act and antitrust laws by failing to disclose currency conversion fees charged to cardholders. Thus, the claims tried to and resolved by the trial court in this case were founded exclusively on the UCL. The trial court filed its statement of decision on April 7, 2003. It found that several state and federal statutes, including the Areias Credit Card Full Disclosure Act of 1986 (Civ. Code,

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