CASE 12.2 Parker v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. Supreme Court of California, 1970. 3 Cal.3d 176,...

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CASE 12.2 Parker v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. Supreme Court of California, 1970. 3 Cal.3d 176, 474 P.2d 689, 89 Cal.Rptr. 737. GREAT THE SEAL OF EUREKA CALIFORNIA THE TE OF FACTS Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. planned to produce a musical, Bloomer Girl, and con- tracted with Shirley MacLaine Parker to play the leading female role. According to the contract, Fox was to pay Parker $53,571.42 per week for fourteen weeks, for a total of $750,000. Fox later decided not to produce. Bloomer Girl and tried to substitute another contract for the existing con- tract. Under the terms of this second contract, Parker would play the lead- ing role in a Western movie for the same amount of money guaranteed by the first contract. Fox gave Parker one week in which to accept the new contract. Parker filed suit in a California state court against Fox to recover the amount of compensation guaranteed in the first contract because, she maintained, the two roles were not at all equivalent. The Bloomer Girl production was a musical, to be filmed in California, and it could not be compared with a "western-type" production that Fox tentatively planned to produce in Australia. When the trial court held for Parker, Fox appealed. Ultimately, the California Supreme Court reviewed the case. ISSUE May Fox's substitute offer of the Western movie contract be used in mitigating the damages ensuing from the breach of the first contract? DECISION No. The California Supreme Court affirmed the judgment for Parker. REASON The court noted that the "measure of recovery by a wrongfully discharged employee is the amount of salary agreed upon for the period. of service, less the amount which the employer affirmatively proves the employee has earned or with reasonable effort might have earned from other employment. Before projected earnings from other employment opportunities not sought or accepted by the discharged employee can be applied in mitigation, however, the employer must show that the other employment was comparable, or substantially similar, to that of which the employee has been deprived." The court held that the two roles were sub- stantially dissimilar-that is, one called for Parker's dancing and acting. abilities, and the other was simply an acting role in a Western movie. The court asserted that "by no stretch of the imagination" could the latter "be considered the equivalent of or substantially similar to the lead in a song- and-dance production." FOR CRITICAL ANALYSIS International Consideration Many legal systems, including that of France, have no clear requirement that dam- ages must be mitigated. Can justice be better served by requiring that damages be mitigated? If so, how? CASE 12.2 Parker v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. Supreme Court of California, 1970. 3 Cal.3d 176, 474 P.2d 689, 89 Cal.Rptr. 737. GREAT THE SEAL OF EUREKA CALIFORNIA THE TE OF FACTS Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. planned to produce a musical, Bloomer Girl, and con- tracted with Shirley MacLaine Parker to play the leading female role. According to the contract, Fox was to pay Parker $53,571.42 per week for fourteen weeks, for a total of $750,000. Fox later decided not to produce. Bloomer Girl and tried to substitute another contract for the existing con- tract. Under the terms of this second contract, Parker would play the lead- ing role in a Western movie for the same amount of money guaranteed by the first contract. Fox gave Parker one week in which to accept the new contract. Parker filed suit in a California state court against Fox to recover the amount of compensation guaranteed in the first contract because, she maintained, the two roles were not at all equivalent. The Bloomer Girl production was a musical, to be filmed in California, and it could not be compared with a "western-type" production that Fox tentatively planned to produce in Australia. When the trial court held for Parker, Fox appealed. Ultimately, the California Supreme Court reviewed the case. ISSUE May Fox's substitute offer of the Western movie contract be used in mitigating the damages ensuing from the breach of the first contract? DECISION No. The California Supreme Court affirmed the judgment for Parker. REASON The court noted that the "measure of recovery by a wrongfully discharged employee is the amount of salary agreed upon for the period. of service, less the amount which the employer affirmatively proves the employee has earned or with reasonable effort might have earned from other employment. Before projected earnings from other employment opportunities not sought or accepted by the discharged employee can be applied in mitigation, however, the employer must show that the other employment was comparable, or substantially similar, to that of which the employee has been deprived." The court held that the two roles were sub- stantially dissimilar-that is, one called for Parker's dancing and acting. abilities, and the other was simply an acting role in a Western movie. The court asserted that "by no stretch of the imagination" could the latter "be considered the equivalent of or substantially similar to the lead in a song- and-dance production." FOR CRITICAL ANALYSIS International Consideration Many legal systems, including that of France, have no clear requirement that dam- ages must be mitigated. Can justice be better served by requiring that damages be mitigated? If so, how?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

The concept of mitigation of damages in contract law is aimed at ensuring that the party who suffers a breach of contract takes reasonable steps to minimize their losses In the case of Twentieth Centu... View the full answer