Wood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon

• Decision Date: 04 December 1917
• Parties: WOOD v. LUCY, LADY DUFF-GORDON.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

222 N.Y. 88

118 N.E. 214

WOOD

v.LUCY, LADY DUFF-GORDON.

Court of Appeals of New York.

Dec. 4, 1917.

Appeal from Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department.

Action by Otis F. Wood against Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon. From a judgment of the Appellate Division (177 App. Div. 624,164 N. Y. Supp. 576), which reversed an order denying defendant's motion for judgment on the pleading, and which dismissed the complaint, plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

John Jerome Rooney, of New York City, for appellant.

Edward E. Hoenig, of New York City, for respondent.

CARDOZO, J.

The defendant styles herself ‘a creator of fashions.’ Her favor helps a sale. Manufacturers of dresses, millinery, and like articles are glad to pay for a certificate of her approval. The things which she designs, fabrics, parasols, and what not, have a new value in the public mind when issued in her name. She employed the plaintiff to help her to turn this vogue into money. He was to have the exclusive right, subject always to her approval, to place her indorsements on the designs of others. He was also to have the exclusive right to place her own designs on sale, or to license others to market them. In return she was to have one-half of ‘all profits and revenues' derived from any contracts he might make. The exclusive right was to last at least one year from April 1, 1915, and thereafter from year to year unless terminated by notice of 90 days. The plaintiff says that he kept the contract on his part, and that the defendant broke it. She placed her indorsement on fabrics, dresses, and millinery without his knowledge, and withheld the profits. He sues her for the damages, and the case comes here on demurrer.

The agreement of employment is signed by both parties. It has a wealth of recitals. The defendant insists, however, that it lacks the elements of a contract. She says that the plaintiff does not bind himself to anything. It is true that he does not promise in so many words that he will use reasonable efforts to place the defendant's indorsements and market her designs. We think, however, that such a promise is fairly to be implied. The law has outgrown its primitive stage of formalism when the precise word was the sovereign talisman, and every slip was fatal. It takes a broader view today. A promise may be lacking, and yet the whole writing may be ‘instinct with an obligation,’ imperfectly expressed (Scott, J., in McCall Co. v. Wright, 133 App. Div. 62,117 N. Y. Supp. 775;Moran v. Standard Oil Co., 211 N. Y. 187, 198,105 N. E. 217). If that is so, there is a contract.

The implication of a promise here finds support in many circumstances. The defendant gave an exclusive privilege. She was to have no right for at least a year to place her own indorsements or market her own designs except through the agency of the plaintiff. The acceptance of the exclusive agency was an assumption of its duties. Phoenix Hermetic Co. v. Filtrine Mfg. Co., 164 App. Div. 424,150 N. Y. Supp. 193;W. G. Taylor Co. v. Bannerman, 120 Wis. 189, 97 N. W. 918;Mueller v. Mineral Spring Co., 88 Mich. 390, 50 N. W. 319. We are not to suppose that one party was to be placed at the mercy of the other. Hearn v. Stevens & Bro., 111 App. Div. 101, 106,97 N. Y. Supp. 566;Russell v. Allerton, 108 N. Y. 288, 15 N. E. 391. Many other terms of the agreement point the same way. We are told at the outset by way of recital that:

‘The said Otis F. Wood possesses a business organization adapted to the placing of such indorsements as the said Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, has approved.’

The implication is that the plaintiff's business organization will be used for the purpose for which it is adapted. But the terms of the defendant's compensation are even more significant. Her sole compensation for the grant of an exclusive agency is to be one-half of all the profits resulting from the plaintiff's efforts. Unless he gave his efforts, she could never get anything. Without an implied promise, the transaction cannot have such business ‘efficacy, as both parties must have intended that at all events it should have.’ Bowen, L. J., in the Moorcock, 14 P. D. 64, [222 N.Y. 92]68. But the contract does not stop there. The plaintiff goes on to promise that he will account monthly for all moneys received by him, and that he will take out all such patents and copyrights and trade-marks as may in his judgment be necessary to protect the rights and articles affected by the agreement. It is true, of course, as the ...