Polydoros v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.
California Court of Appeal
67 Cal. App. 4th 318 (1997)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
The Sandlot was a 1993 film written and directed by David Evans (defendant) and released by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. (Fox) (defendant). Taking place in the early 1960s, the film depicted the baseball-centric summer adventures of a group of boys, including a character named Michael Palledorous, nicknamed Squints. Evans based Palledorous on his childhood friend Michael Polydoros (plaintiff). The actor cast for the role resembled Polydoros as a child, and the actor’s image was heavily employed to market the film. Polydoros brought suit against Evans and Fox for invasion of privacy, commercial appropriation of identity, defamation, and negligence. Polydoros complained that people noted the resemblance and began calling him Squints, much to his embarrassment. The trial court found in favor of Evans and Fox. Polydoros appealed. The California Court of Appeal granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Boren, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.