Academy Chicago Publishers v. Cheever
| Decision Date | 27 June 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 1-89-0506,1-89-0506 |
| Citation | 558 N.E.2d 349,146 Ill.Dec. 386,200 Ill.App.3d 677 |
| Parties | , 146 Ill.Dec. 386 ACADEMY CHICAGO PUBLISHERS, an Illinois corporation, and Franklin H. Dennis, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Mary W. CHEEVER, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
McBride, Baker & Coles (Thomas R. Leavens and Marc L. Fogelberg, of counsel), Chicago, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Frankfurt, Garbus, Klein & Selz, P.C. (Martin Garbus, Maura Wogan and Russell Smith, of Counsel), Chicago, for defendant-appellee.
Plaintiffs, Academy Chicago Publishers (Academy) and Franklin H. Dennis (Dennis), filed a second amended complaint for declaratory relief against defendant, Mary W. Cheever, in the circuit court of Cook County. Plaintiffs sought a declaration of the parties' rights under a contract: (1) granting Academy the exclusive right to publish a work tentatively entitled, "The Uncollected Stories of John Cheever"; (2) designating Dennis as the work's editor; and, (3) obligating defendant to deliver the manuscript from which the work was to be published. 1 After a trial on the merits, the trial court entered a judgment declaring, inter alia, that the contract executed by the parties was valid and enforceable. Plaintiffs appeal from that judgment.
In addition to declaring the parties' contract valid and enforceable, the trial court declared that, pursuant thereto: (1) defendant was entitled to select the stories of her late husband to be included in the manuscript to be delivered to Academy for publication; (2) she would comply with her obligations of good faith and fair dealing if she delivered a manuscript of at least 10 to 15 stories aggregating at least 140 pages; (3) Academy controls the design and format of the work to be published but it must exercise that control in cooperation with defendant. Plaintiffs' appeal specifically challenges the last two declarations of the trial court.
Being too voluminous to be stated briefly, we will discuss the facts only as pertinent to the points raised on appeal by plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs first contend that the declaration that defendant would satisfy her obligations of good faith and fair dealing under the contract by delivering a manuscript of 10 to 15 stories and, at least, 140 pages is an improper advisory opinion because no issue concerning the manuscript was either in controversy or litigated in this action.
Of all the arguments made by the parties on this issue, we are convinced that the rule, cited by defendant, against piecemeal declaratory judgments is dispositive. Plaintiffs argue on appeal that the trial court should have limited its declarations to confirming the validity of the contract and to requiring defendant to deliver a manuscript thereunder. We cannot agree.
In so arguing, plaintiffs ignore that they also requested a declaration that they had the right to publish the 68 Cheever stories appended to their second amended complaint. Plaintiffs readily acknowledge that fact relative to other arguments of the parties on the instant issue. However, in the context of the piecemeal declaratory judgment arguments, they ignore that that request necessarily required the trial court to determine the number of stories, between none and 68, which defendant was required to submit for publication in keeping with her contract obligations. The reason that that request necessarily required the trial court to make that determination is that the contract between the parties failed to establish in any way the number of stories which defendant was obligated to submit for publication or which plaintiffs had the right to publish.
That failure of the contract made the issues of its validity and the parties' required performances thereunder separate and distinct. That is, because the contract failed to establish the number of stories to be submitted by defendant or published by plaintiffs, we do not believe the trial court was required, if it found the contract valid and enforceable, to accept plaintiffs' contention that they had the right to publish all 68 stories, appended to their second amended complaint. Logically then, if the trial court did not have to accept that contention, it was free, within the bounds of its discretion, to determine either the number of stories which defendant was required to submit or which plaintiffs had the right to publish under the contract.
In short, we find that, by requesting a declaration that they had a right to publish a certain number of stories in the face of a contract which was silent on that issue, plaintiffs necessarily, albeit tacitly, requested a declaration as to the number of stories which they did have a right to publish if the trial court did not agree with the number proffered by them. Plaintiffs did put defendant's contract performance obligations with respect to the manuscript "in controversy," contrary to their assertion that they did not. As such, the court did not issue a merely advisory ruling in determining those minimum obligations. Moreover, caselaw involving the rule against piecemeal declaratory judgments supports the trial court's action in this regard.
In Krebs v. Mini (1977), 53 Ill.App.3d 787, 10 Ill.Dec. 673, 368 N.E.2d 159, the plaintiffs prayed for declarations that there was a partnership or joint venture agreement between them and the defendant for the purchase and operation of a corporation and that the defendant held two-thirds of the stock of the corporation as trustee for the plaintiffs' benefit. In affirming the denial of that relief, the court held that a declaration that the parties were partners or joint venturers would still leave them in controversy over such questions as the terms of their agreement and whether there had been a breach of those terms. Likewise, it held that a declaration that the defendant held two-thirds of the stock of the corporation as trustee for the plaintiffs would not solve the problem of the time and terms of the stock's issuance or transfer to the plaintiffs.
In this case, plaintiffs not only asked for a declaration of a valid agreement with defendant, like the Krebs plaintiffs, but also, unlike them, sought a declaration regarding the major or most important term, at least from their perspective, of that agreement, i.e., the number of Cheever stories which defendant was required to allow plaintiffs to publish. As such, we agree with defendant that a failure by the trial court to settle that latter question, in the face of the requested declaration, would have guaranteed further litigation and would thus have violated the rule against piecemeal declaratory judgments. Moreover, inasmuch as plaintiffs did request a declaration of the number of Cheever stories they were entitled to publish, it cannot be said that the trial court entered a declaration that was not requested or, in other words, that plaintiff's prayer for relief did not allow the court to enter a judgment disposing of the entire controversy between the parties. See Farmers Insurance Group v. Harris (1972), 4 Ill.App.3d 372, 376, 279 N.E.2d 789.
The cases cited by plaintiffs for the proposition that courts cannot issue advisory opinions do not require a contrary conclusion. In Howlett v. Scott (1977), 69 Ill.2d 135, 13 Ill.Dec. 9, 370 N.E.2d 1036, which noted inter alia, that courts have no authority to issue advisory opinions, the court found premature a declaratory judgment action, by the then Illinois Secretary of State, for a declaration that a certain business relationship of his had not created a conflict of interest where the defendant, the then Illinois Attorney General, had not indicated his intent to prosecute an action against the Secretary of State at the time the declaratory action was filed. Howlett is clearly factually inapposite here. See, also, People ex rel. Barra v. Archer Daniels Midland (7th Cir.1983), 704 F.2d 935 ().
In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Morris (1961), 29 Ill.App.2d 451, 173 N.E.2d 590 cert. denied, 368 U.S. 878, 82 S.Ct. 124, 7 L.Ed.2d 78, which noted, inter alia, that courts cannot give advice with respect to hypothetical or anticipated future problems, the court found premature an insurer's declaratory judgment action for declarations as to its obligations under one of its policies. It did so on the bases that: (a) as to the requested declaration that it was not obligated to pay any damages which its insured might become legally obligated to pay, the plaintiff had an adequate remedy in any future garnishment action against it were any third parties to obtain judgments against its insured; (b) as to the requested declaration that it was not obligated to pay the medical expenses of any claimants against its insured not conditioned upon her liability to them, the plaintiff had an adequate remedy in any future suit against it by any such claimant; (c) the requested declaration that it was not obligated to defend any suit against its insured would constitute giving an advisory opinion and, in light of the impropriety of declarations as to the foregoing matters, would violate the prohibition against piecemeal declaratory judgment litigation. Morris is patently inapposite to this case.
In Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co. v. Bailey (1982), 104 Ill.App.3d 1131, 60 Ill.Dec. 860, 433 N.E.2d 1098, which noted that courts should not declare the rights of parties on a state of facts which has not arisen or on a matter which is future, contingent and uncertain, the court found premature the entry of a declaratory judgment that the share of the testamentary trust established by the will at issue, which was to go to one of the testator's children, Jennie, would be distributed among the issue of the testator's other children should...
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Academy Chicago Publishers v. Cheever
...control of the publication, given the explicit language of the agreement granting exclusive control to Academy. (200 Ill.App.3d 677, 146 Ill.Dec. 386, 558 N.E.2d 349.) Appeal is taken in this court pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 315(a) (134 Ill.2d R. The parties raise several issues on appe......
- Academy Chicago Publishers v. Cheever