Fields Productions, Inc. v. United Artists Corporation
| Decision Date | 28 November 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 68 Civ. 198.,68 Civ. 198. |
| Citation | 318 F. Supp. 87 |
| Parties | FIELDS PRODUCTIONS, INC., Plaintiff, v. UNITED ARTISTS CORPORATION, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Herman Odell, New York City, for plaintiff.
Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon, New York City, for defendant; Paul Martinson, David G. Miller, New York City, of counsel.
Defendant moves for judgment on the pleadings dismissing this private treble damage antitrust action. The question is whether plaintiff has standing to sue.
The complaint, which is deemed to be true for the purposes of this motion, can be briefly summarized. In September 1956, defendant agreed to finance and distribute a motion picture produced by plaintiff. The agreement provided in substance that defendant would not "block book" the picture, i. e., it would not require an exhibitor, as a condition of obtaining a license to exhibit plaintiff's picture, to agree to accept a license for other pictures distributed by defendant. In breach of this agreement, defendant did block book plaintiff's picture in licensing it for exhibition on television. Defendant received $4,616,432 from licensing a block of forty pictures, including plaintiff's. Defendant "arbitrarily allocated" to plaintiff's picture the sum of $196,495 as its share of the total. This sum was at least $400,000 less than the fair value of the television rights in plaintiff's picture. Defendant's block booking violated the antitrust laws and also contravened a decree entered by this court against defendant in 1963 in a government antitrust suit, United States v. United Artists Corporation, Civil Action No. 119-288. By reason of defendant's unlawful conduct, plaintiff has been damaged in the sum of at least $400,000, which is to be trebled, so that plaintiff is entitled to recover $1,200,000 plus costs and attorneys' fees.
I wrote at some length on the subject of standing to sue in private treble damage actions in SCM Corporation v. Radio Corporation of America, 276 F.Supp. 373 (S.D.N.Y.1967), aff'd, 407 F.2d 166 (2d Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 943, 89 S.Ct. 2014, 23 L.Ed.2d 461 (1969). It is unnecessary to repeat all that I said there. In essence, the principle is that in order to have standing to sue for damages sustained "by reason of" defendant's violation, the injury which plaintiff suffered must have been direct rather than incidental. Plaintiff must have been in the "target area" of the violation.
It is clear that the block booking of motion pictures for exhibition on television contravenes Section 1 of the Sherman Act. United States v. Loew's Incorporated, 371 U.S. 38, 83 S.Ct. 97, 9 L.Ed.2d 11 (1962). See also United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 U.S. 131, 68 S.Ct. 915, 92 L.Ed....
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In re Multidistrict Vehicle Air Pollution MDL No. 31
...F.2d 1073 (9th Cir. 1970) with Fields Productions, Inc. v. United Artists Corp., 432 F.2d 1010 (2d Cir. 1970), aff'g, per curiam 318 F.Supp. 87 (S.D.N.Y.1969), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 949, 91 S.Ct. 932, 28 L.Ed.2d 232 (1971); and compare Steiner v. 20th Century-Fox Film Corp., 232 F.2d 190 (......
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...our prior decisions on the issue, see Fields Productions, Inc. v. United Artists Corp., 432 F.2d 1010 (2d Cir. 1970), affirming, 318 F.Supp. 87 (S.D.N.Y.1969), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 949, 91 S.Ct. 932, 28 L.Ed.2d 232 (1971); Billy Baxter, Inc. v. Coca-Cola Company, 431 F.2d 183 (2d Cir. 197......
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...688 F.2d 689 (9th Cir. 1982); Fields Productions, Inc. v. United Artists Corp., 432 F.2d 1010 (2d Cir.1970) (per curiam), aff'g, 318 F.Supp. 87 (S.D.N. Y.1969), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 949, 91 S.Ct. 932, 27 L.Ed.2d 232 (1971). Also it would appear that one who refuses to purchase has suffere......
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