This case involved plaintiffs Larry Zarrella and his construction company, who purchased Flex XII life insurance policies from defendant Pacific Life to fund a § 412(i) defined-benefit retirement plan. After the IRS audited the plan in 2005 and determined it failed to meet statutory requirements under § 412(i)(3) because policy values exceeded promised benefits, causing damages to the plaintiffs, Zarrella sued Pacific Life for breach of contract and violation of California's Unfair Competition Law based on false advertising. The court granted Pacific Life's motion for summary judgment, finding no genuine dispute of material fact on either claim. The core reasoning was that third-party administrators, not Pacific Life, designed the plan and selected policy amounts, Pacific Life made adequate disclosures about the equality requirement and risks of overfunding, and no evidence showed Pacific Life made misleading statements or controlled the plan's structure.

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