Weinstat

This is an appeal from an order decertifying a class of dentists as to their causes of action under the unfair competition law (UCL) and for breach of express warranty against the manufacturer of the Cavitron ultrasonic scaler (Cavitron). What prompted the decertification? An appellate court decision interpreting the Proposition 64 amendments to the UCL as requiring that all class members—not just the representatives—show an injury in fact. Although our Supreme Court granted review in that decision, the trial court nonetheless stood by its decertification order and denied the dentists’ request for reconsideration. Recently, the state’s high court issued its decision in In re Tobacco II Cases (2009) 46 Cal.4th 298 [ 93 Cal.Rptr.3d 559 , 207 P.3d 20 ] (Tobacco II). Tobacco II rejects the legal premises underpinning the decertification order as to the UCL claim and mandates reversal.

We must also reverse the order decertifying the class as to the breach of express warranty claims. Procedurally, the order was improper because it was rendered in the absence of new law or evidence. Substantively, the order was contrary to law because it improperly grafted an element of prior…