Eastern Federal Corp. v. Avco-Embassy Pictures, Inc.

326 F. Supp. 1280, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8994
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 29, 1970
DocketCiv. A. No. 11895
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 326 F. Supp. 1280 (Eastern Federal Corp. v. Avco-Embassy Pictures, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eastern Federal Corp. v. Avco-Embassy Pictures, Inc., 326 F. Supp. 1280, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8994 (N.D. Ga. 1970).

Opinion

ORDER

EDENFIELD, District Judge.

The plaintiff, Eastern Federal Corporation (formerly known as Meiselman Theaters, Inc.) is a movie exhibitor with theaters located in the two Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. The defendant Avco-Embassy Pictures, Inc. (formerly Embassy Pictures Corp.) is a movie producer and distributor, its head distributing office being in New York. Its Vice President and General Sales Manager (whom it contends is the only person having authority to finally approve the licensing of its pictures) is Mr. D. J. Edele, who is headquartered in New York. It also has a branch office in Atlanta headed by James Frew, who is now Southern Division Manager for the defendant and who was Atlanta Branch Manager in 1967. In 1967 (until December of that year) the Chief Booking Agent for plaintiff was John W. Kirby.

In late spring of 1967 the defendant was coming out with a picture to be called “The Graduate.” On June 14, 1967, Frew, the then-branch manager of the defendant, met with Kirby, the book-er for the plaintiff, in Charlotte, North Carolina, to negotiate for the sale of pictures by the defendant to the plaintiff. On June 22nd plaintiff and defendant entered into a contract whereby plaintiff was granted the “first run”, “exclusive” right to play “The Graduate” in Atlanta at its Coronet Theater “or” at its Cherokee Theater “and” at its Miracle Theater in Smyrna. At this time the Coronet Theater was under construction and it was anticipated that it would be ready in October. No playing dates for those theaters were agreed upon, it being a common practice in the moving picture industry to contract without an agreement as to exact playing dates, the custom in this regard being that playing [1282]*1282dates would later be determined in the following fashion: first, the exhibitor would ask the distributor for certain dates. If the distributor agreed, such dates were confirmed. If for some reason (because of conflicts, etc.) the distributor could not agree to the dates suggested, it would reject the proposed dates and ask the exhibitor to submit others. If the parties could not agree on playing dates in this fashion, the distributor had the ultimate and final authority to arbitrarily assign playing dates. Pursuant to this practice the plaintiff originally suggested as a booking date a run to begin on February 21, 1968, and to end on March 5, 1968. These dates were never accepted' by the defendant.

On August 10, 1967, plaintiff asked for a playing date of December 22nd. This was approved by the defendant. Later, however, when it was found that the Coronet would not be open by December 22nd, plaintiff requested another date and cancelled for the Coronet Theater and offered its Toco Hills Theater instead. This was rejected by the defendant. Still later, on December 7th, the plaintiff sent in a request for a playing date of February 21, 1968. No response was received to this request. The defendant contends that it did approve and return this request but its Southern Manager, Frew, admits that this request was never approved by the defendant.

By December of 1967 “The Graduate” had won several global awards and had been nominated for several Academy awards, and at this time the defendant realized that it would be a “hit” picture. Based on this realization, it went back to all its licensees and contract holders, including plaintiff, and demanded increased prices and longer playing terms as a condition of supplying the picture.

On Saturday, February 3, 1968, Mr. Frew, representing the defendant, met with Mr. H. B. Meiselman, representing plaintiff, at the defendant’s Atlanta office. Frew told Meiselman that his superior, Edele, insisted that the price and showing periods for “The Graduate” be revised upward. After some colloquy, Meiselman agreed. It being Saturday, no secretary was available to type up the new or revised agreement and Mr. Wayne Chappell, an employee of the defendant (who had formerly also been an employee of the plaintiff), took down the notes of the new agreement on a yellow pad or “work sheet”, it being contemplated that the revisions would be typed up in formal manner the following week. In addition to the increase in prices and times, one other change was made in the June 22nd agreement: whereas the original agreement had provided that “The Graduate” was to play at the Coronet “or” the Cherokee Theater in Atlanta, and at the Miracle Theater in Smyrna, the new agreement provided that it was to play at the Coronet “and” the Cherokee Theaters in Atlanta and at the Miracle Theater in Smyrna.

What transpired at this meeting is of critical importance to this case, particularly as respects playing' dates. Defendant’s witnesses, Frew and Chappell, both insist that they told Meiselman that in no event could the picture start showing in Atlanta later than February 21st. On the other hand Meiselman and plaintiff’s local manager, Revis, both insist that the subject of playing dates was never mentioned at this meeting. It is also significant that defendant’s Atlanta manager, Chappell, made no mention of a February 21st playing date in the notes contained on his “work sheet.” Before leaving this meeting, Meiselman and Frew initialed the work sheet and Meiselman also signed in blank the contract forms on which the new agreement was to be typed. The contract forms were thereafter sent to New York and were typed up, but here the same critical dispute arises. It is undisputed that the contract forms when typed in New York contained a requirement that the opening date for the showing of “The Graduate” be not later than February 21st. Defendant says this was pursuant to their discussions on February 3rd. This is vehemently denied by plaintiff.

[1283]*1283Again it is significant that the work sheet prepared at the time and initialed by all the parties contains no such provision. There is also a dispute as to what happened to the forms thereafter. The defendant testifies that the typed forms, containing the February 21st deadline, were approved in its New York office and a copy promptly returned to the plaintiff. The plaintiff denies that this is true and contends that the insertion of the February 21st deadline was done by the defendant without authority and contrary to the February 3rd agreement. It also contends (and its President swears) that they never received the forms or knew of this unauthorized change until March 5th, at which time “The Graduate” was already being shown at a competing theater under-license from the defendant, this having come about under circumstances which we will now explain.

Following the February 3rd meeting defendant’s Southern Division Manager, Frew, met with plaintiff’s local manager, Revis, on February 14th at the Coronet Theater, which was then under construction, and thereafter they had lunch at the Variety Club. Frew testifies that Revis told him that the Coronet Theater would be completed by February 21st but that he, Frew, after having seen the progress being made, had serious reservations about this completion date. In any event, Frew on this occasion found out that Mr. Meiselman was coming back to Atlanta from Charlotte within the next few days and thereafter Frew met with Mr. Meiselman at the Riviera Motel on February 16th. At this meeting Frew testifies that he told Meiselman that the Coronet would not be ready by February 21st and told him further that he, Meiselman, would have to get another theater because the defendant had to have two.

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Related

Tanzer v. International General Industries, Inc.
402 A.2d 382 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1979)
Eastern Federal Corp. v. Avco-Embassy Pictures Corp.
331 F. Supp. 1253 (N.D. Georgia, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
326 F. Supp. 1280, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eastern-federal-corp-v-avco-embassy-pictures-inc-gand-1970.