Cine Forty-Second Street Theatre Corp. v. Allied Artists Pictures Corp.

Cine Forty-Second Street Theatre Corp. (Cine) (plaintiff) brought an antitrust suit against Allied Artists Pictures Corp. and others (defendants), claiming $3 million in treble damages. In November 1975, the defendants served a first set of consolidated interrogatories on Cine. Cine responded to these interrogatories four months late and the responses were severely inadequate. Cine then failed to obey two subsequent orders from a magistrate compelling discovery. The magistrate found the disobedience to be willful. Subsequently, in the summer of 1977, Cine filed another round of answers, one of which was over two months late, and both of which were inadequate. The responses did not include a method of calculating the main portion of the alleged damages, something that Cine had not yet produced despite repeated requests by the defendants and the magistrate. In September 1978, the defendants moved for dismissal of Cine’s complaint on account of its continued failure to obey the magistrate’s order requiring a response on calculation of damages. The magistrate again concluded that Cine’s disobedience was willful and recommended to the district court that Cine be precluded from introducing evidence on damages moving forward (thus effectively dismissing Cine’s claim for damages). The district court held that it was impossible to confirm that Cine’s disobedience was willful versus grossly negligent. The district court then certified an interlocutory appeal.