The statute of limitations for actions brought under the UCL is four years after the cause of action accrued. The elements of a UCL claim include any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice. The statute, however, does not offer any guidance as to when a UCL claim actually accrues. In fact, the California Courts of Appeal were split over whether the UCL is subject to the common law rules of accrual and thus the equitable exceptions, or whether the statute forecloses equitable exceptions altogether.
Under common law, a cause of action accrues at the time when the cause of action is complete with all of its elements, or when a suit may be maintained. This is known as the “last element” accrual rule. The limitations period, the period in which a plaintiff must bring suit or be barred, runs from the moment the claim accrues. There are, however, three exceptions to the general rule of accrual under common law: delayed discovery, continuing violation, and continuous accrual.
In Aryeh, the trial court and Court of Appeal joined one side of the appellate split on accrual rules under the UCL, finding that the UCL precludes any common law exceptions to the last element accrual rule. The California Supreme Court settled the split by concluding that “the UCL is governed by common law accrual rules,” including the continuing violation, continuous accrual, and delayed discovery exceptions to those rules. The court then analyzed the continuing violation and continuous accrual exceptions to determine if either saved the plaintiff’s UCL claim at the demurrer stage.
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