Willard

—Plaintiffs and appellants Michael Willard and Jessica Sher subscribed to a wireline 1 telephone service and to a service offered by the telephone company that suppressed their names, addresses, and telephone numbers from the White Pages telephone directory and 411 directory assistance (nonpublished service). The voice communications services industry in California is under the jurisdiction of California’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). (Pub. Util. Code, § 701.) 2 All rates for services must be “just and reasonable.” (Pub. Util. Code, § 451.) In 2006, the CPUC determined that competitive market conditions supported pricing freedom for, among other things, nonpublished service, with the caveat that the matter would be reopened if there was evidence of market abuses. (Order Instituting Rulemaking on the Commission’s Own Motion to Assess and Revise the Regulation of Telecommunications Utilities (2006) Cal.P.U.C. Dec. No. 06-08-030, p. 156 (Decision 06-08-030).) Thereafter, the telephone company raised its fee for nonpublished service. Believing the fee was too high, plaintiffs brought this putative class action for declaratory, restitutionary, and injunctive…

As enunciated in the recent case of Klein v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc. (2012) 202 Cal.App.4th 1342 [ 137 Cal.Rptr.3d 293 ] (Klein), a case arising under the unfair competition law (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.) and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (Civ. Code, § 1750 et seq.), judicial abstention is only justified if the issue to be decided is one of complex economic *63 policy, which the court is ill equippedto decide and a plaintiff has an adequate alternative mechanism to address its claims. In the Klein case, the court held that at the pleading stage, it was not clear that plaintiffs’ claims would necessarily require the court to enter into complex areas of economic policy. ( Klein, supra, 202 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1367-1368.) The case involved claims in connection with the sale of gasoline at a temperature above that at which it had been purchased.

In the instant case, at the demurrer stage, just as in Klein, supra, 202 Cal.App.4th 1342 , it cannot be said that the court would have to address areas of complex economic policy. (See Arce v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 471, 496-502 [ 104 Cal.Rptr.3d 545 ].) In fact, the trial court here was able to…