FOUNDATION FOR TAXPAYER RIGHTS v. Nextel Communications

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) appeals from the judgment on the pleadings entered in favor of Nextel Communications, Inc., and Nextel of California, Inc. (collectively Nextel). The FTCR sued Nextel for violation of California’s unfair competition law, Business and Professions Code section 17200 et seq. (hereafter UCL). Nextel moved for judgment on the pleadings on the grounds that the standing requirements for claims under the UCL were modified by Proposition 64 and that the FTCR did not meet the modified requirements. The trial court granted Nextel’s motion without leave to amend. We reverse, because the FTCR should have been permitted to amend its complaint in order to add or substitute a plaintiff who meets the modified standing requirements.

BACKGROUND

The FTCR filed its complaint against Nextel in 2003, alleging a single claim for violation of the UCL. The complaint alleged that Nextel had damaged thousands of its customers through various “unfair and illegal” billing policies and practices. But the complaint did not allege that the FTCR itself had been damaged by Nextel’s conduct. Rather, the FTCR sued Nextel “in a representative capacity…