Samura v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc

In Samura v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. (1993) 17 Cal.App.4th 1284, a health care plan member brought UCL claims against Kaiser for third party liability provisions in service agreements that the member alleged violated the Knox-Keene Act. The First District reversed the trial court's order issuing an injunction, finding that the acts were not specifically made unlawful under the Knox-Keene Act. (Samura v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., supra, 17 Cal.App.4th at p. 1301.) Accordingly, the court held, "in basing its order on these provisions in the Knox-Keene Act, the trial court assumed a regulatory power over the defendants that the Legislature has entrusted exclusively to the Department of Corporations. ... The courts cannot assume general regulatory powers over health maintenance organizations through the guise of enforcing Business and Professions Code section 17200." (Id. at pp. 1301-1302.)