Beecher v. Google North America Inc.
Filing
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ORDER GRANTING 29 MOTION TO DISMISS WITH LEAVE TO AMEND. Amended complaint due on or before 10/30/2018. Signed by Judge Beth Labson Freeman on 10/9/2018.(blflc2S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 10/9/2018)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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SAN JOSE DIVISION
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GORDON BEECHER,
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Plaintiff,
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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Case No. 18-cv-00753-BLF
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO
DISMISS WITH LEAVE TO AMEND
v.
GOOGLE NORTH AMERICA INC.,
[Re: ECF 29]
Defendant.
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Before the Court is Defendant Google North America, Inc.’s (“Google”) Motion to
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Dismiss Plaintiff Gordon Beecher’s (“Beecher”) First Amended Complaint (“FAC”). See Mot.,
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ECF 29. In his FAC, Beecher, on behalf of himself and a class of similarly situated plaintiffs,
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alleges that Google materially misrepresented the functionality of its mobile phone and data
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services program “Project Fi.” FAC ¶ 2, ECF 27. Specifically, Beecher alleges that Google
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falsely promised customers that they would not be charged for mobile data when they were
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connected to WiFi. See id. Based on these alleged misrepresentations, Beecher asserts the
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following causes of action: (1) violations of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act (“CLRA”) (Cal.
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Civ. Code § 1750, et seq.); (2) violations of the California Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) (Cal.
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Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200, et seq.); (3) violations of the California False Advertising Law
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(“FAL”) (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17500, et seq.); and (4) breach of contract. Google moved to
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dismiss on May 7, 2018. This Court held a hearing on the motion on October 4, 2018. For the
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reasons stated on the record at the hearing and as set forth below, the motion to dismiss is
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GRANTED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND.
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“A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a
claim upon which relief can be granted ‘tests the legal sufficiency of a claim.’” Conservation
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Force v. Salazar, 646 F.3d 1240, 1241–42 (9th Cir. 2011) (quoting Navarro v. Block, 250 F.3d
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729, 732 (9th Cir. 2001)). When determining whether a claim has been stated, the Court accepts
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as true all well-pled factual allegations and construes them in the light most favorable to the
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plaintiff. Reese v. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., 643 F.3d 681, 690 (9th Cir. 2011). While a
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complaint need not contain detailed factual allegations, it “must contain sufficient factual matter,
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accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556
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U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is
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facially plausible when it “allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is
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liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id.
As an initial matter, the Court agrees with Google that Beecher’s claims under the UCL,
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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FAL, and CLRA must meet the heightened pleading standards of Rule 9(b). See Mot. at 6.
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Beecher’s allegations are rooted in a “unified course of fraudulent conduct and rely entirely on
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that course of conduct as the basis of [each] claim,” such that the claims are “grounded in fraud”
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and “must satisfy the particularity requirement of Rule 9(b).” Kearns v. Ford Motor Co., 567 F.3d
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1120, 1125 (9th Cir. 2009). Beecher does not refute this argument; indeed, he refers to these
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claims as “fraud-based.” Opp. at 9, ECF 35. Rule 9(b) requires that “a party must state with
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particularity the circumstances constituting fraud.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b). “Averments of fraud
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must be accompanied by the who, what, when, where, and how of the misconduct charged.”
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Kearns, 567 F.3d at 1124 (quoting Yess v. Ciba–Geigy Corp. USA, 317 F. 3d 1097, 1106 (9th Cir.
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2003)).
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Under this standard, Beecher’s FAL, UCL, and CLRA claims are insufficiently pled
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because he fails to allege that he actually relied on any alleged misrepresentations by Google.
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Courts in this district have consistently held that “plaintiffs in misrepresentation cases must allege
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that they actually read the challenged representations” to state a claim. In re Yahoo! Inc.
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Customer Data Sec. Breach Litig., No. 16-MD-02752-LHK, 2017 WL 3727318, at *27–*28 (N.D.
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Cal. Aug. 30, 2017) (citation omitted) (dismissing UCL fraud claim for failure to plead actual
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reliance); Bruton v. Gerber Prod. Co., No. 12-CV-02412-LHK, 2014 WL 172111, at *6, *9 (N.D.
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Cal. Jan. 15, 2014) (citing In re Tobacco II Cases, 46 Cal. 4th 298, 328 (2009)) (dismissing claims
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under UCL, FAL, and CLRA based on plaintiff’s failure to allege he viewed the alleged
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misrepresentations). Nowhere in his FAC does Beecher allege that he viewed Google’s alleged
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misrepresentations, much less that he relied on those misstatements. This failure is fatal to his
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claims.
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Beecher’s argument that he need not plead actual reliance as to his omissions-based claims
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is unavailing. By Beecher’s own admission, these claims are actionable “because Google made
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partial representations that would be considered misleading without complete disclosure,” and
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because Google knew the “service would not perform as advertised.” Opp. at 10 (emphases
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added). Beecher’s failure to allege that he saw these antecedent “partial representations” or
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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“advertise[ments]” is similarly fatal to his omissions-based claims.
Next, the Court finds that Beecher fails to state a claim for breach of contract. Under
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governing law, Beecher must point to specific contractual terms which were allegedly breached.
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See, e.g., Miron v. Herbalife Int’l, Inc., 11 F. App’x. 927, 929 (9th Cir. 2001) (affirming dismissal
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of contract claim where the plaintiffs “failed to allege any provision of the contract which supports
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their claim”); Frezza v. Google Inc., No. 5:12-CV-00237-RMW, 2013 WL 1736788, at *3 (N.D.
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Cal. Apr. 22, 2013) (“In order to properly plead a breach of contract the plaintiffs must present the
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material terms and conditions of the contract in writing or in substance . . . .”).
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Here, Beecher bases his breach of contract claim on the Terms of Service, alleging that
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Google promises (1) that “customers will be charged only for their use of Google’s products and
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services,” (2) “not to charge for data use while customers are connected to WiFi”; and (3) “only to
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use information collected from devices to bill and collect payment from the Project Fi services.”
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FAC ¶¶ 122–23. In support of this proposition, Beecher cites the following allegations in the
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FAC: (1) Paragraph 13, which does not contain an actual term from the Terms of Service; (2)
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Paragraph 15, which alleges that the Terms of Service allow Google “to automatically collect
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payments of all charges associated with the use of the Services from your designated payment
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method”; and (3) Paragraph 16, which alleges that the Terms state that Google will “[b]ill you and
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collect payment for the Services and devices that you [customers] purchased” (alterations in
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original). See Opp. at 5. But none of these terms makes any of the promises Beecher alleges they
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do. Indeed, the crux of the allegations turns on alleged misrepresentations contained on Google’s
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website, not in the Terms of Service. See, e.g., id. ¶¶ 19–44. Though Beecher and Google dispute
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whether the FAQs on the website are incorporated into the contract between the parties,1 Beecher
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does not allege that the FAQs are so incorporated, and thus the Court need not reach the issue, and
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the FAQs cannot save this claim.
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Similarly, Beecher’s UCL claim fails on the unfair prong as well. To the extent the claim
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is based on Google’s allegedly fraudulent misrepresentations, Beecher must show actual reliance.
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See Bruton, 2014 WL 172111, at *6. To the extent the claim is based on his breach of contract
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claim, the UCL claim must be dismissed because the breach of contract claim is dismissed.
Finally, Google argues that Beecher’s FAC abandons a theory of liability included in his
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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original Complaint, namely “that he was charged for the Wi-Fi data he used when connected to a
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Wi-Fi network,” and that he “now alleges that he was only charged for the cellular data he used in
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that circumstance.” Mot. at 12 (emphases omitted). Beecher refutes this claim (see Opp. at 7) and
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argued at the hearing that his FAC attempts to encapsulate both theories of liability. Liberally
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construing the allegations in the FAC, the Court finds that Beecher did not abandon this theory of
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liability. However, the FAC allegations do not sufficiently allege this theory, and any amended
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complaint must more clearly elucidate the two separate theories.
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Accordingly, the Court GRANTS WITH LEAVE TO AMEND Google’s motion to
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dismiss as to all four claims. Beecher’s second amended complaint is due on or before October
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30, 2018.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
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Dated: October 9, 2018
______________________________________
BETH LABSON FREEMAN
United States District Judge
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The Court need not and does not take judicial notice of Google’s FAQs to resolve this motion.
See Mot. at 14–15 (requesting the Court take judicial notice of the FAQs).
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