Jeffers v. Screen Extras Guild, Inc.

• Citation: 162 Cal.App.2d 717,328 P.2d 1030
• Parties: , 35 Lab.Cas. P 71,776 Michael D. JEFFERS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. SCREEN EXTRAS GUILD, INC., Lee Abbey, Claire Andre, George Barton, Louise Bates, Chris Willow Bird, Willie Bloom, Spencer Chan, Ben Corbett, Harry 'Doc' Evans, Franklyn Farnum, Art Flavin, Bess Flowers, Richard H. 'Dick' Gordon, Victor Groves, Don House, Kenner G. Kemp, Louise Lane, Rita Leonard, Anna Mabry, Thomas A. Martin, Buddy C. Mason, Tina Menard, William H. O'Brien, William J. O'Brien, Beulah Parkington, Rose Plumer, Snub Pollard, Bobby Priest, Edd X. Russell, Jeffrey Sayre, George Sowards, Larry Steers, Florence E. Wix, Buck Harris, H. O'Nell Shanks, Robert W. Gilbert, Defendants. Screen Extras Guild, Inc., H. O'Nell Shanks and Buck Harris, Respondents. Civ. 21698.
• Decision Date: 12 August 1958
• Court: California Court of Appeals

Page 1030

328 P.2d 1030

162 Cal.App.2d 717, 35 Lab.Cas. P 71,776

Michael D. JEFFERS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. SCREEN EXTRAS GUILD, INC., Lee Abbey, Claire Andre, George Barton, Louise Bates, Chris Willow Bird, Willie Bloom, Spencer Chan, Ben Corbett, Harry 'Doc' Evans, Franklyn Farnum, Art Flavin, Bess Flowers, Richard H. 'Dick' Gordon, Victor Groves, Don House, Kenner G. Kemp, Louise Lane, Rita Leonard, Anna Mabry, Thomas A. Martin, Buddy C. Mason, Tina Menard, William H. O'Brien, William J. O'Brien, Beulah Parkington, Rose Plumer, Snub Pollard, Bobby Priest, Edd X. Russell, Jeffrey Sayre, George Sowards, Larry Steers, Florence E. Wix, Buck Harris, H. O'Nell Shanks, Robert W. Gilbert, Defendants.

Screen Extras Guild, Inc., H. O'Nell Shanks and Buck Harris, Respondents.

Civ. 21698.

District Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 1, California.

Aug. 12, 1958.

Rehearing Denied Sept. 8, 1958.

Hearing Denied Oct. 10, 1958.

Perry Bertram, Los Angeles, for appellant.

Gilbert, Nissen & Irvin, Los Angeles, for respondents.

LILLIE, Justice.

The libel action now under consideration was commenced on May 18, 1950, and has now been the subject of three trials and four appeals. See Jeffers v. Screen Extras Guild, Inc., 1951, 107 Cal.App.2d 253; 237 P.2d 51; Id., 1955, 134 Cal.App.2d 622, 286 P.2d 30, and Id., 1956, 140 Cal.App.2d 604, 295 P.2d 417. Plaintiff now appeals from a judgment on the merits in favor of the defendants.

On August 9, 1950, a general demurrer was sustained to the amended complaint which had failed to allege any special damages. On plaintiff's appeal from the resulting order dismissing the action, the appellate court determined that 'the words appearing in the complaint' were libelous under the definition of section 45 of the Civil Code and directed the trial court to overrule the demurrer. Jeffers v. Screen Extras Guild, Inc., 107 Cal.App.2d 253, 237 P.2d 51. Thereafter, an answer was filed in which the Guild, its officers and directors, admitted that the News Letter in question had been sent in envelopes to Guild members exclusively, but denied that plaintiff had been libeled or damaged. Both truth and privilege were pleaded. They alleged that the letter had been published by way of reply to plaintiff's own charges and political attacks against the Guild and its board of directors, whereby he gave consent to the countercharges made by the defendants.

The first jury trial of this action lasted from April 2, 1953, to November, 1953, at which time a judgment of nonsuit was granted in favor of all members of the Guild's board of directors except the officers; and the cause was dismissed as against the Guild's legal counsel. The trial then continued until February 16, 1954, when the jury was discharged for inability to agree.

A second jury trial before a different judge began on July 19, 1954, and on August 18, 1954, a nonsuit was granted in favor of the Guild's five officers. The action then proceeded against the Guild, its executive secretary, H. O'Neil Shanks, and its public relations counsel, Buck Harris, who are the respondents herein. On September 4, 1954, the jury returned a 9 to 3 verdict for plaintiff in the amount of $10,000 general damages and punitive damages of $23,750 against defendant Guild, $1,000 against defendant Harris, and $250 against defendant Shanks. On November 3, 1954, this verdict was set aside and a new trial ordered 'upon the grounds of excessive damages and insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict.'

The third trial, resulting in the judgment here appealed from, began before a jury on May 12, 1955. During the trial and on June 13, 1955, after the trial judge had investigated the matter, one of the jurors was 'discharged for misconduct' and by stipulation replaced with an alternate. Thereafter, upon agreement of counsel, the trial was continued and finally completed before the court sitting without a jury, resulting in a judgment for the defendants. A motion for a new trial was denied and this appeal was taken by the plaintiff.

Before setting forth the essential details of the controversy, we quote in full the alleged libelous publication which was circulated among members of the Screen Extras Guild:

'News Letter to Members.

'Vol. IV No. IV

'April 5, 1950

'Jeffers Leads Recall Scheme, Attempts to Destroy SEG; Jeffers is SPU and CSU; Extras Don't Want Jeffers nor SPU nor CSU.

'Mike Jeffers, demagogue and would-be dictator, was forced out into the open last week as the leader of the small clique that seeks to destroy Screen Extras Guild. Jeffers personally solicited signatures on an anti-Guild Petition and he personally handed out an unsigned, mimeographed, lying attack on the officers and directors of the Guild. The Screen Extras Guild accepts Jeffers' challenge and will continue to expose him for what he is--a would-be dictator who seeks to further his own selfish ambitions at the expense of the extra players; a discredited leader of a discredited union which permitted open shop for extra players and started to flood the extras' ranks with non-union newcomers. That is Jeffers.

'Jeffers yells his head off each time one of his underhanded schemes is exposed as a plot by leaders of the defunct SPU to destroy our American Federation of Labor Guild of extra players. Of course he doesn't like it. He would prefer that the extras would forget all about the terrible things he did to extras. Jeffers would like the extra players to forget that he was part of the Commie-influenced Conference of Studio Unions which pulled two disastrous jurisdictional strikes in 1945 and 1946. Jeffers would like you to forget that he never did one thing for the good of the extra players, that all he did was to bring about open shop. But the extra players are not going to forget it--now or ever.

'Jeffers squirms when it's shown that he is responsible for the present situation in which a number of extra players have been forced by the producers to accept $9.45 calls or do without unemployment insurance. He cannot refute the charge for the Court records prove it and therefore he engages in a lot of double-talk about something that was said at a membership meeting several years ago. The Guild will not allow Jeffers to dodge the issue. Here are the facts, which are a matter of Court record and can be checked by any extra player: The California Appellate Court decision which says that extras must be willing to accept $9.45 calls in order to be eligible for unemployment insurance was made in the case of Loew's, Inc. versus California Employment Stabilization Commission. This case was filed in Court on December 26, 1945. On that date, Jeffers' SPU was the bargaining agent for extra players. The producers did not dare take the case into Court while the extras were still in Screen Actors Guild, for the weight of the entire A. F. of L. would have been brought to bear to insure that no extra player would be denied his unemployment insurance rights. The producers waited until Jeffers brought about open shop for extra players and then they took the case to Court, with the result that all extra players are now affected by a Court decision for which Jeffers is mainly responsible. Once an adverse Court decision was entered, it becomes a thousand times more difficult for Screen Extras Guild to correct the harm done, even with full A. F. of L. support. These are the facts and all of Jeffers' ranting and raving won't alter them.

'Jeffers tries to make something out of the fact that the present mob scene rate is $9.45. In the SPU open shop days, it was $5.50. In the Spu open shop days, the rate for general extra work was $10.50. Today, it is $15.56. In the SPU open shop days, the rate for dress extra work was $16.50. Today, it is $22.23.

'Screen Extras Guild is firmly committed to the principle of completely abolishing the $9.45 rate for legitimate extra players. In our present negotiations with the producers, we have made some progress in that direction--a great deal more progress than Jeffers ever could make. For some years, every time we reach a crucial point in our negotiations with the employers, Jeffers starts a new attempt to split the Guild. This makes it just that much more difficult to get a half-way decent deal. Jeffers' underhanded tactics are hurting all the extra players. But despite Jeffers, we are making progress.

'Jeffers has sunk to a new low in his scheme to destroy the Screen Extras Guild. He now has as his ally the slimiest, dirtiest, most despised scandal sheet in the entire history of Hollywood. 'Birds of a feather flock together' and this disreputable, lying, blackguard, yellow rag is now supporting Jeffers in his attempt to split and destroy the Guild. The Screen Extras Guild, its officers and directors are proud to be on the 'blacklist' of this filthy publication. The Screen Extras Guild refuses to be blackjacked into paying tribute under any guise whatsoever to any publication. Jeffers is welcome to his latest rotten associate. SEG dares them to sue us for libel.

'Every union and guild in Hollywood is faced with the greatest unemployment in the history of the studios. All are doing their utmost to improve the situation, working through the American Federation of Labor. What does Jeffers think he could do? Call a strike? Officers and directors of Screen Extras Guild are getting far less work now than before they were elected by the SEG members. Does Jeffers think that he could improve the unemployment situation by taking the extra players out of the American Federation of Labor and bringing back open shop?

'The Screen Extras Guild is working all the time for the good of all legitimate extra players. The Guild is not perfect, for it is made up of humans--extra players--and perfection is not a human trait. But the Guild is so far superior to anything that Jeffers and his cohorts have to offer that the extra players once again by over-whelming majority will...