Coast Plaza Doctors Hospital v. Blue Cross of California

In Coast Plaza Doctors Hospital v. Blue Cross of California (2000) 83 Cal. App. 4th 677, 691-692, plaintiff hospital alleged violations of Business and Professions Code sections 17020 et sequitur (unfair trade practices) and 17200 (unfair competition) in addition to three nonstatutory causes of action (83 Cal. App. 4th at pp. 681, 691), seeking "both compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief." ( Id. at p. 682; see also p. 692, quoting prayer for monetary damages and, to remedy statutory violations, an injunction.) The court held: "Coast Plaza's requests for injunctive relief for the benefit of the public at large as a remedy under the two statutory schemes are the only requests for relief which are inarbitrable. Applying Broughton here, Coast Plaza must arbitrate the remainder of its causes of action and noninjunctive remedies, including its purported entitlement to monetary damages. " ( Id. at p. 692, italics in original; see also p. 693 "all (Coast Plaza's) claims, save those seeking public injunctive relief, must be severed and resolved in arbitration".) The court noted that under the Unfair Competition Act ( Bus. & Prof. Code, 17200 et seq.), a private litigant is entitled to "disgorgement of profits made by the defendant through unfair or deceptive practices in violation of the statutory scheme or restitution to victims of the unfair competition" ( Coast Plaza, supra, 83 Cal. App. 4th at pp. 691-692). In Coast Plaza Doctors Hospital v. Blue Cross of California (2000) the court rejected the plaintiff's argument that arbitration was not required of its tort claim, noting that the arbitration agreement explicitly covered "any problem or dispute" that arose under the terms of the agreement at issue. (Coast Plaza, supra, 83 Cal.App.4th at p. 684.) The court held: "That contractual language is both clear and plain. It is also very broad. In interpreting an unambiguous contractual provision we are bound to give effect to the plain and ordinary meaning of the language used by the parties. Citations. We interpret this language to mean just what it says." (Ibid.)