Klein v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc

In Klein v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc. (2012) 202 Cal.App.4th 1342, the Court held that there was no alternative remedy for Klein's claims under the UCL and Consumer Legal Remedies Act for Chevron's failure to compensate for temperature variations in retail motor fuel, which resulted in consumers receiving less motor fuel, as measured by mass and energy, than they would receive if Chevron adjusted for temperature increases. Chevron argued that the court should abstain in light of a report by the California Energy Commission analyzing the costs and benefits of implementing fuel pumps at retail stations that would remedy the temperature variations. (Ibid.) The Court found that "the fact that the Legislature has required an agency to investigate remedies to a potentially problematic business practice is not, standing alone, sufficient to support judicial abstention." (Klein, supra, 202 Cal.App.4th at p. 1369.) We concluded that "to abstain from deciding the issues plaintiffs have raised in their complaint means that those issues will remain unresolved unless the Legislature decides to intervene, which may never occur." (Id. at p. 1370.)