Warner Bros. Pictures v. Brodel

192 P.2d 949, 31 Cal. 2d 766, 3 A.L.R. 2d 691, 1948 Cal. LEXIS 359
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedMay 3, 1948
DocketL. A. 19887
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 192 P.2d 949 (Warner Bros. Pictures v. Brodel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Warner Bros. Pictures v. Brodel, 192 P.2d 949, 31 Cal. 2d 766, 3 A.L.R. 2d 691, 1948 Cal. LEXIS 359 (Cal. 1948).

Opinions

TRAYNOR, J.

On March 27, 1942, plaintiff, a producer of motion pictures, entered into a written agreement with defendant Brodel, then a minor seventeen years of age, wherein the latter promised to perform dramatic services exclusively for plaintiff “for and during the term of the agreement.” The instrument provided that “the term of this contract” should commence on March 30, 1942, and continue thereafter for 52 weeks; that during this period defendant should receive a weekly salary of $600; and that “in consideration of the terms and covenants of this agreement and of the consent of the producer to the amount of compensation as herein set forth” plaintiff should have six separate options to extend the term of defendant’s employment for additional successive periods of 52 weeks each, at a progressively higher salary, namely, $750, $1,000, $1,250, $1,750 and $2,250 per week. Under section 36 of the Civil Code the agreement was submitted to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County for approval, and on May 12,1942, the court approved the agreement and incorporated it in its order. This incorporation makes it clear that the court approved the whole agreement including the options.

When this order was made, the pertinent provisions of section 36 read as follows: “A minor cannot disaffirm a contract, otherwise valid, to perform or render services as actor, actress, or other dramatic services, as participant or player in professional sports, including, but without being limited to, professional boxers, professional wrestlers and professional jockeys, where such contract has been approved by the superior court of the county where such minor resides or is employed. Such approval may be given on the petition of either party to the contract after such reasonable notice to the other party thereto, as may be fixed by said court, with opportunity to such other party to appear and be heard.”

Defendant performed her obligations under the agreement for the first 52 weeks, and, when plaintiff elected to exercise the first three options, she continued to perform for three [770]*770additional periods of 52 weeks each. In January, 1946, defendant reached her majority. On February 13, 1946, plaintiff gave notice to defendant of its election to exercise the fourth option. Defendant replied by notifying plaintiff that she disaffirmed her agreement and would render no further services to plaintiff. Immediately thereafter she entered into an agreement with the other defendants, also motion-picture producers, to perform dramatic services for them.

Basing its cause of action on the foregoing facts alleged in its complaint together with the allegation that when the other defendants entered into their contract with defendant Brodel, they were aware of her obligations toward plaintiff and contrived to circumvent plaintiff’s rights, plaintiff brought this action for declaratory relief and for an injunction preventing defendant Brodel from performing and the other defendants from causing her to perform dramatic services for anyone except plaintiff. The trial court sustained demurrers interposed by defendants, without leave to amend, and dismissed the action. Plaintiff appeals.

Plaintiff contends that the approval of the agreement by the court deprived defendant Brodel of the right of disaffirmance. Defendant contends that this approval deprived her of the right of disaffirmance only during her minority but did not preclude disaffirmance within a reasonable time after she reached majority. Defendant contends also that section 36 applies only to contracts of employment; that options for a contract of employment are not contracts of employment ; that therefore the court had no power to approve the option features of the agreement; and that the statute cannot be applied to the present case without depriving defendant of her constitutional rights under the equal protection of the laws clause of the United States Constitution and the provisions against special laws in section 25 of article IV of the California Constitution.

Section 35 of the Civil Code provides: “In all cases other than those specified in sections thirty-six and thirty-seven, the contract of a minor . . . may be disaffirmed by the minor himself, either before his majority or within a reasonable time afterwards.” Section 36 provides that “a minor cannot disaffirm a contract” approved by the court. Defendant contends that the use of the phrase “a minor cannot dis-affirm” in section 36 (italics added) makes it clear that disaffirmance of a contract approved by the court is barred only for the period of the minority of the party to the contract [771]*771and that the minor can disaffirm the contract during the second period referred to in section 35, namely, within a reasonable time after majority. This contention takes no account of the fact that section 35 grants the right of disaffirmance before or after majority only in cases “other than those specified in section thirty-six and thirty-seven, ” or of the fact that it speaks of disaffirmance after majority as disaffirmance “by the minor,” and thus specifies the status of the person when he made the contract, not his status when he dis-affirms it. There is no need to repeat in other sections of the Civil Code the provisions in section 35 as to who may dis-affirm and when disaffirmance may be declared; they are part of the law of disaffirmance in that code and must therefore be read into other sections of the code relating to disaffirmance of contracts of a minor. Moreover, section 36 confers upon the superior courts the power by their approval of contracts of minors to remove from the obligations incurred therein the uncertainty that otherwise attends contract obligations of a minor because of his right of disaffirmance. Disaffirmance of a contract, executed or executory, whether declared before or after majority has the effect of a rescission. (Flittner v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc., 30 Cal. App. 209, 216 [157 P. 630]; Tracy v. Gaudin, 104 Cal.App. 158, 160 [285 P. 720]; see 1 Williston, Contracts (rev. ed.), § 231.) If section 36 prohibited disaffirmance of a contract approved by the court during minority only, but permitted disaffirmance thereof after majority, it would not remove the uncertainty attending the right of disaffirmance. If the section merely postponed the exercise of the minor’s right to dis-affirm, it would thereby only prolong the uncertainty, since a minor who intended to disaffirm the contract would have to leave the matter in suspense until he reached majority.

Defendant’s contention that a court has no power under section 36 to approve an option such as the options in the agreement between parties is based on the language of the section providing for approval of a contract “to perform or render services.” Defendant contends that since an agreement granting an option is a contract to keep an offer open and as such is distinct from the contract to which the option relates, an option for a contract of employment is therefore not itself a contract “to perform or render services.’’ It is universally accepted that an option agreement is a contract distinct from the contract to which the option relates, since it does not bind the optionee to perform or enter into the [772]*772contract upon the terms specified in the option. It does not follow, however, that by entering into an option contract, whereby he irrevocably promises to render services to the optionee upon the timely exercise of the option by the latter, an optionor does not enter into a contract “to perform or render services. ’ ’

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Bluebook (online)
192 P.2d 949, 31 Cal. 2d 766, 3 A.L.R. 2d 691, 1948 Cal. LEXIS 359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/warner-bros-pictures-v-brodel-cal-1948.