Trujillo v. First American Registry, Inc.

• Court: California Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: Ikola
• Citation: Trujillo v. First American Registry, Inc., 68 Cal.Rptr.3d 732, 157 Cal.App.4th 628 (Cal. App. 2007)
• Decision Date: 03 December 2007
• Docket Number: No. G037760.,No. G037287.,G037287.,G037760.
• Parties: Robert TRUJILLO et al. Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. FIRST AMERICAN REGISTRY, INC., Defendant and Respondent.

68 Cal.Rptr.3d 732

157 Cal.App.4th 628

Robert TRUJILLO et al. Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. FIRST AMERICAN REGISTRY, INC., Defendant and Respondent.

No. G037287.

No. G037760.

Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 3.

December 3, 2007.

Lakeshore Law Center and Jeffrey Wilens, Yorba Linda; Law Offices of Jeffery P. Spencer, San Clemente, and Jeffrey Spencer, for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Reed Smith, Margaret M. Grignon and John P. Zaimes, Los Angeles, for Defendant and Respondent.

Pahl & Gosselin, Stephen D. Pahl and Karen Kubala McCay, San Jose, for The California Apartment Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

Jacobson Russell Saltz & Fingerman and Michael J. Saltz, Los Angeles, for The National Association of Screening Agencies as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

Hudson Cook and Elizabeth A. Huber, El Segundo, for Consumer Data Industry Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

OPINION

IKOLA, J.

Plaintiffs Robert Trujillo, William Gradie, and Ronald Friedman appeal from an order granting summary adjudication and a final judgment in favor of defendant First American Registry, Inc., on their causes of action pursuant to the Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA) (Civ.Code, § 1785.¹ et seq.), the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.), and the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) (§ 1786 et seq.). Plaintiffs alleged defendant had prepared tenant screening reports that correctly showed unlawful detainer actions had been filed against plaintiffs, but which wrongly failed to note the actions had been dismissed or the resulting judgment had been satisfied.² Plaintiffs further alleged the incomplete reports had caused property managers to reject their rental applications.

We affirm summary adjudication on each of the three causes of action.

First, defendant was entitled to summary adjudication on the CCRAA cause of action because plaintiffs suffered no damage from the incomplete reports. Defendant's evidence showed the property managers did not rely upon the omitted unlawful detainer resolutions in rejecting the rental applications; they would have denied the applications even if the tenant screening reports had been complete. Plaintiffs offered no evidence to the contrary, and failed to raise a triable issue as to whether they had suffered resulting damage. Because the alleged violation caused no damage, plaintiffs' CCRAA cause of action fails as a matter of law.

Second, defendant was entitled to summary adjudication on the UCL cause of action for a similar reason. Plaintiffs failed to raise a triable issue as to whether they had suffered injury in fact or lost money or property as a result of the incomplete reports. The lack of injury dooms their UCL cause of action as a matter of law.

Finally, defendant was entitled to summary adjudication on the ICRAA causes of action. The ICRAA is unconstitutionally vague as applied to tenant screening reports containing unlawful detainer information, like the ones here. Because defendant was entitled to summary adjudication on each of plaintiffs' causes of action, the court correctly entered judgment in defendant's favor.

FACTS

Plaintiffs' Rejected Rental Applications

Trujillo wanted to rent a garage in Long Beach. The property manager gave him a written copy of the "Selection Criteria" for accepting applicants. The Selection Criteria directed the property manager to reject applicants who provided false information on their applications or whose tenant screening report showed the existence of any unlawful detainer actions. Trujillo submitted a written rental application to the property manager. The application asked, "Have you ever had an unlawful detainer filed against you?" Trujillo checked the box indicating "No."

The property manager obtained Trujillo's tenant screening report from defendant. The report showed an unlawful detainer action had been filed against Trujillo. The property manager rejected his application. Trujillo explained the unlawful detainer action had been dismissed. The property manager still refused to rent him the garage.

Gradie wanted to rent an apartment in Santa Fe Springs. The property manager gave him a written copy of the "Credit Screening Policies" for accepting applicants. The Credit Screening Policies directed the property manager to reject applicants who provided false information on their applications or whose tenant screening report showed the existence of any unlawful detainer actions. Gradie submitted a written rental application to the property manager. The application asked, "Have you ever had an unlawful detainer filed against you?" Gradie checked the box indicating "No." The application asked Gradie whether he had ever filed for bankruptcy. He checked the box indicating "Yes," explaining he filed for bankruptcy in April 2002.

The property manager obtained Gradie's tenant screening report from defendant. The report showed an unlawful detainer action had been filed against him. It further showed Gradie had filed for bankruptcy three times. The property manager rejected Gradie's application. Gradie showed the property manager an order dismissing the unlawful detainer action and a letter from his landlord stating the matter had been resolved. The property manager still refused to rent him an apartment.

Friedman submitted a written application to rent an apartment in Santa Ana. He also submitted a copy of an Acknowledgement of Satisfaction of Judgment, showing he had satisfied the judgment entered in an unlawful detainer action filed against him by a former landlord. The property' manager obtained Friedman's tenant screening report from defendant. The report confirmed the unlawful detainer action had been filed against him. The property manager rejected his application.

The Litigation

Plaintiffs filed a class action complaint, asserting defendant had violated various credit reporting laws. First, Trujillo and Gradie alleged defendant violated the CCRAA, which requires credit reporting agencies to follow "reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information" in the reports, by failing to note the unlawful detainer actions filed against them had been dismissed. (§ 1785.14, subd. (b).) Second, Gradie alleged the same conduct violated a similar provision of the ICRAA. (§ 1786.20, subd. (b).) Third, Gradie and Friedman alleged defendant violated the ICRAA by failing to provide a required notice to them. (§ 1786.29.) Fourth, Gradie and Friedman alleged defendant violated the ICRAA by failing to verify their tenant screening reports' accuracy within 30 days. (§ 1786.18, subd. (c).) Finally, all three plaintiffs alleged defendant's conduct violated the UCL.

Defendant moved for summary judgment and/or summary adjudication. It contended the CCRAA and UCL causes of action were meritless because the undisputed evidence showed Trujillo and Gradie suffered no damage from the incomplete tenant screening reports. It further contended the three ICRAA causes of action were meritless because plaintiffs suffered no damage, the tenant screening reports were not "investigative consumer reports" subject to the ICRAA, federal law preempted the ICRAA, and the ICRAA is unconstitutionally vague.

To show plaintiffs had suffered no damage from the incomplete reports, defendant submitted declarations from the property managers who had received plaintiffs' rental applications. The property managers asserted they would have rejected the applications even if the tenant screening reports had accurately indicated the unlawful detainer actions had been dismissed (in Trujillo and Gradie's case) or the resulting judgment had been satisfied (in Friedman's case). They followed policies against renting to persons involved in unlawful detainer actions, regardless of how the actions were resolved. The property managers who had rejected Trujillo's and Gradie's applications further stated they did so also because of the misrepresentations in their applications. The property manager who had rejected Friedman's application stated he did so also because of Friedman's low credit score and poor credit history. Plaintiffs offered no opposing evidence, instead contending the statutes did not require that they suffer any damage.

The court granted summary adjudication for defendant on each cause of action. It found plaintiffs had not suffered damage or injury from the alleged statutory violations. It did not reach defendant's contentions that the tenant screening reports were not subject to the ICRAA or that the ICRAA was unconstitutionally vague. The court denied summary judgment to give plaintiffs' counsel an opportunity to find a new class representative. Plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal from the order granting summary adjudication (case no. G037287). After plaintiffs failed to substitute a new class representative, the court entered judgment in defendant's favor. Plaintiffs separately appealed from the judgment (case no. G037760). We consolidated the two appeals. The order granting summary adjudication is a nonappealable order. (Levy v. Skywalker Sound (2003) 108 Cal.App.4th 753, 761, fn. 7, 134 Cal.Rptr.2d 138.) The appeal from that order is dismissed.

DISCUSSION

To obtain summary judgment, defendant must show plaintiffs cannot establish an element of their causes of action, or show a complete defense thereto. (Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 850, 107 Cal.Rptr.2d 841, 24 P.3d 493.) It bears the burden to "make a prima facie showing of the nonexistence of any triable issue of material fact." (Ibid.) If defendant makes this showing, plaintiffs must show some triable issue of material fact does exist. (Ibid.) Plaintiffs "may not rely upon the mere allegations or denials of [their] pleadings," but must "set forth the specific facts showing that a triable issue of material fact...