Medina

Pedro Medina brought this unfair competition law or UCL (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.) action based on the fact he had purchased a vehicle service contract, which is allegedly an insurance contract, from a company not licensed to sell insurance in California. (See Ins. Code, § 700 [requiring licenses of insurers].) On a demurrer to the second amended complaint, the trial court reasoned that Medina did not meet the requirement set forth in Business and Professions Code section 17204, as amended by Proposition 64, that a UCL plaintiff have suffered “injury in fact and has lost money or property as a result” of the unfair competition.

The irony is that Medina’s class action is predicated on the idea that he bought an absolutely void contract and cannot enforce it (hence he is out the money he paid for the contract, having received nothing for it). That raises the problem of just exactly what are the consequences to a consumer who buys an insurance contract from an unlicensed, out-of-state insurer. Is the consumer really without insurance? We are unaware of any California authority addressing the question, hence we publish our answer to it in this opinion. As readers…