Merry Gentleman, LLC v. George and Leona Productions, Inc.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-Michael Keaton’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff’s action alleging that Keaton breached terms of contract calling for him to be lead actor and director of plaintiff’s film (The Merry Gentleman), where plaintiff accused Keaton of failing to either timely produce certain preliminary versions of film, cooperate with plaintiff, and/or adequately promote said film. Dist. Ct. could properly find that plaintiff could not obtain under reliance damages theory entire $5.5 million that plaintiff spent on film, where: (1) plaintiff could not show any causal link between plaintiff’s claim for reliance damages and any breach of contract by Keaton; and (2) record showed that Keaton had substantially performed on contract by acting in movie and producing movie that had received certain critical acclaim.