Bennett

This appeal concerns the Willed Body Program (WBP) at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Plaintiffs are relatives of body-donor decedents. The complaint alleges that UCLA mishandled the decedents’ remains after scientific uses were concluded. In a prior appeal, we determined that plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged causes of action for negligence, fraud, and breach of contract. (Bennett v. Regents of the University of California (July 23, 2001, B135382) [nonpub. opn.].)

Plaintiffs are now appealing the trial court’s denial of class certification, an order that we affirm here. Plaintiffs’ common claims for their proposed class action are quite limited, and far narrower than those alleged in their complaints. Given the narrowing of the issues and the evidence presented, it is necessary to refine the scope of plaintiffs’ viable claims. Specifically, we conclude that the factual basis for plaintiffs’ class claim— multiple, simultaneous incineration of human remains—is not an actionable wrong in the context of a university’s WBP. Moreover, despite nine years of litigation, plaintiffs failed to present any admissible evidence of their common “core fact” that the…