Flores v. Chevron U.S.A. Inc.

Filed 6/20/13 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

JOHN FLORES III, et al., B240477

Plaintiffs and Appellants, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC455706) v.

CHEVRON U.S.A. INC.,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. John S. Wiley, Jr., Judge. Affirmed. Schwartz Law, P.C. and Jeffrey M. Schwartz for Plaintiffs and Appellants. Jones Day, Paul F. Rafferty, Eric M. Kennedy, and Rhianna S. Hughes for Defendant and Respondent.

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John Flores III and other named plaintiffs appeal from the summary judgment entered against them in their class action for violation of the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971 (Credit Card Act or Act). Plaintiffs allege that defendant Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (Chevron) violates the Act by sometimes requiring customers to provide their ZIP codes when buying gasoline with credit cards. The undisputed facts show that Chevron requires ZIP codes only in pay-at-the-pump transactions at locations where there is a high risk of fraud, uses the information only to prevent fraud, and purges the information shortly after the credit card transactions are reconciled. We agree with the trial court that Chevron‟s conduct does not violate the Act, because the personal identification information “is required for a special purpose incidental but related to the individual credit card transaction,” namely, the purpose of ensuring that the individual credit card transaction is not fraudulent. (Civ. Code, § 1747.08, subd. (c)(4).)1 We therefore affirm the judgment. BACKGROUND Under the Credit Card Act, “no person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation that accepts credit cards for the transaction of business shall . . . [r]equest, or require as a condition to accepting the credit card as payment in full or in part for goods or services, the cardholder to write any personal identification information upon the credit card transaction form or otherwise,” subject to certain exceptions. (§ 1747.08, subd. (a)(1).) On February 10, 2011, the Supreme Court held that ZIP codes constitute “personal identification information” within the meaning of the Act. (Pineda v. Williams-Sonoma Stores, Inc. (2011) 51 Cal.4th 524, 527 (Pineda).) In so doing, the Court disapproved a prior Court of Appeal decision that had reached the opposite conclusion. (Pineda, supra, 51 Cal.4th at p. 534.) Less than two weeks after the Supreme Court decided Pineda, Flores and other named plaintiffs filed the instant class action against Chevron and other oil companies.