McAdams

This appeal involves a proposed class action under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA; Civ.Code, § 1750 et seq.) and the Unfair Competition Law (UCL; Bus. & Prof.Code, § 17200 et seq.). The action is based on the defendant's alleged failure to disclose that the color composition of its roof tiles would erode away, leaving bare concrete, well before the end of the tiles' represented 50-year life. The trial court declined to certify a class as to these two statutory counts.

We agree with case law that an "inference of common reliance" may be applied to a CLRA class that alleges a material misrepresentation consisting of a failure to disclose a particular fact. Applying an "inference of common reliance" may satisfy the CLRA's requirement that a consumer must have "suffer[ed] ... damage as a result" of the unlawful act or practice. Pursuant to this requirement, plaintiffs in a CLRA action must show that a defendant's conduct was deceptive and that the deception caused them harm. (Civ.Code, § 1780, subd. (a); Massachusetts Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Superior Court (2002) 97 Cal.App.4th 1282, 1293 , 119 Cal.Rptr.2d 190 (Massachusetts Mutual) .)

We conclude here that an…