Procedural Posture
In a representative action on behalf of the general public brought, among other things, under the California unfair competition law (UCL), Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 et seq., plaintiff customer appealed a judgment of the Orange County Superior Court, California, which sustained defendant’s corporation’s demurrer without leave to amend and dismissed the action.
Overview: becoming an exotic dancer
The gist of the customer’s complaint was that the corporation, a currency exchanger, committed an unlawful, unfair, and fraudulent business practice under the UCL, engaged in deceptive advertising under the false advertising law (FAL), Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 17500 et seq., and violated the fiduciary duties imposed upon a trustee by Cal. Prob. Code §§ 16002, 16004, when it failed to disclose to the customer that it got a more advantageous rate of exchange on the wholesale market than it gave the customer, and when it failed to give the customer the benefit of the better exchange rate. The instant court held that the corporation was required under Cal. Fin. Code § 1815(a) to disclose to its customer the rate of exchange at which the corporation was selling the foreign currency. However, it was not statutorily obligated to disclose the rate at which it purchased foreign currency or disclose its profit on the foreign exchange (FX) spread. The customer could not state causes of action for breach of any fiduciary duty based upon the corporation’s profiting off of the FX spread or failing to disclose the FX spread to its customers. The customer’s causes of action under FAL also failed.
Outcome
The judgment was affirmed.
Hercampus Fashion 