Kaldenbach

Raymond C. Kaldenbach brought an action against United of Omaha Life Insurance Company and Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance Company (collectively Mutual), concerning the sale of a so-called “vanishing premium” life insurance policy. He alleged causes of action for violation of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) (Civ. Code, § 1750 et seq.), the unfair competition law (UCL) (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.), and common law fraud and concealment. His motion for certification of the action as a class action was denied after the trial court concluded he had demonstrated none of the requisites for class certification. Kaldenbach appeals contending he established all requisites for class certification. We disagree and affirm the order.

I

BACKGROUND

Before addressing this particular case, we find it useful to provide this background on vanishing premium life insurance litigation, which was nicely laid out in a sister-state case Gaidon v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of America (1999) 94 N.Y.2d 330 [ 704 N.Y.S.2d 177 , 725 N.E.2d 598, 602-603 ]: “The cases before us are not unique. They involve allegations and practices of a national scope that have generated industry-wide…