Merry Gentleman, LLC v. George and Leona Productions, Inc.
Seventh Circuit
799 F.3d 827 (2015)
Merry Gentleman, LLC (plaintiff) produced a film starring and directed by Michael Keaton (defendant), through Keaton's production company George and Leona Productions. The film was a commercial failure but was critically acclaimed and screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Merry Gentleman sued Keaton, alleging he breached the contract by submitting the first cut late, delivering an incomplete second cut, and failing to adequately promote the film, and that this breach caused the film's commercial failure. Merry Gentleman sought its entire $5.5 million production investment back as reliance damages, supported only by an affidavit stating it had spent that much in reliance on the contract. The trial court granted summary judgment for Keaton, finding Merry Gentleman hadn't sufficiently proven that Keaton's breach caused its losses.
Whether a court will award reliance damages in a breach-of-contract action when doing so would leave the non-breaching party in a better position than if it had never entered the contract.