This Is Me v. Taylor
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
157 F.3d 139 (1998)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
Actress Cicely Tyson entered a series of contracts with Elizabeth Taylor (defendant) and Zev Bufman (defendant) for Tyson to star in a stage production of The Corn Is Green. Along with a run of live performances, a video recording and television broadcast of the play were planned. The first contract contained a $750,000 pay-or-play guarantee to account for the opportunity costs of Tyson’s nearly yearlong commitment to the production. This contract was superseded by two others, with one covering the run of the play and the other covering the video recording. The pay-or-play clause appeared only in the video contract, which was between Zev Bufman Entertainment, Inc. and This Is Me, Inc. (plaintiff), the corporation through which Tyson provided her services. However, the video contract cross-referenced the play contract, which provided that the individual signatory—Bufman, on behalf of The Corn Company—was bound along with the production company. The play contract, in turn, incorporated the standard Actors’ Equity agreement, which provided that any signature on an employment agreement extended to any other enterprise directed by the signatory. The production closed after a short run, and the video recording was never made. This Is Me brought an action in district court for the unpaid balance of the $750,000. The jury found that Bufman and Taylor were liable for the unpaid amount, but the court ruled in favor of Bufman and Taylor as a matter of law, reasoning that, on the basis of the video contract, only Zev Bufman Entertainment, Inc. was bound by the pay-or-play clause. This Is Me appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Jacobs, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 816,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 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.