(Download) "Rooney v. Weeks Et Al." by Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Rooney v. Weeks Et Al.
- Author : Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
- Release Date : January 28, 1935
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 68 KB
Description
PIERCE, Justice. This is a suit in equity whereby the plaintiff seeks an injunction to restrain the defendant Weeks (hereinafter referred to as the defendant) from an alleged violation of the negative stipulation in a contract of personal service made with the plaintiff whereby the defendant agreed to refrain from working for others than the plaintiff during the term of the contract. The bill of complaint as amended also seeks to recover certain sums of money as 'damage suffered by the plaintiff by reason of the failure of the defendant to perform his said agreement,' or as due under the terms of the contract as a percentage of earnings paid to the defendant under contracts with third parties. The answer of the defendant Randall Weeks alleges that the contract is void for want of mutuality; that, assuming it was valid, the contract was broken by the plaintiff and not by the defendant; that no damages have been suffered by the plaintiff, and that no sums of money are due from the defendant to the plaintiff. The case was heard by a master, to some of whose findings the defendant filed exceptions. Upon further hearing upon the report and exceptions thereto an interlocutory decree was entered modifying and confirming the master's report. From this decree the defendant appealed. Thereafter a final decree for the plaintiff was entered and from this decree the defendant appealed to this court. The master was ordered 'to hear the parties, find the facts and report his findings * * * together with such questions of law * * * as either party may request.' The report, in substance, is as follows: The plaintiff conducted an advertising business, principally radio broadcast advertising. There were in his organization a musical director, a radio director, a copy chief or writer and himself. These four, with other minor employees, constituted a planning board. This board analyze the situation, decide what stratum of society they desire to reach in any particular advertising campaign and what area territorially is to be covered. 'The actual advertising is done by means of a 'broadcast,' that is, the sending out over the air from a studio a program which has been arranged in advance. This program involves the securing of alent, usually musical, the selection of artists and the music, and the arrangement and timing of the numbers and of the talk by which the advertising is done. The 'show,' as it is called, must be carefully rehearsed and timed, is finally produced in an 'audition' so-called, and after being approved by Mr. Rooney and presumably by the advertiser who pays for it, the program goes into production. An 'audition' is in effect a trial of the program, and is often given also to prospective customers as a means of selling the advertising service which is furnished by the plaintiff and similar concerns, as well as to try out a program which has already been adopted.' The musical director in this organization was not merely an orchestra leader. His function, as such director, was broad and included the general supervision and control over the whole musical production. The radio director is the connecting link between the advertising company and the musical director; he is directly responsible for the type of program used and passes final judgment on the actual musical numbers to be used. The copy chief or writer takes care of the 'continuities,' so called, which are the spoken words used in a program, and attends also to publicity in newspapers and similar matters.