Two Jinn, Inc. v. Government Payment Service, Inc

In Two Jinn, Inc. v. Government Payment Service, Inc. (2015) 233 Cal.App.4th 1321, a licensed bail agent brought a UCL action to enjoin the defendant from engaging in bail agent activities in violation of legal requirements. (Two Jinn, at p. 1326.) The plaintiff, like plaintiff in this case, argued it had standing because " 'well before any litigation was considered,' it expended significant time and resources investigating and documenting the defendant's activities in order to assist government regulators and convince them to uniformly enforce the law." (Id. at p. 1336.) The Two Jinn court assumed that under Buckland such a showing would demonstrate that the plaintiff's investigation "was conducted independently of the lawsuit," but the court held that the plaintiff had failed to present any evidence in support of its argument. (Two Jinn, at p. 1336.) "Indeed, plaintiff's general counsel expressly conceded that its investigation constituted 'pre-litigation activities.' " (Ibid.) The court noted that the plaintiff had shared its evidence with California's Department of Insurance, but "it did so as part of this litigation in order to support its petition for a writ of mandate." (Ibid.)