Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. v. Scheider
Court of Appeals of New York
360 N.E.2d 930 (1976)
Actor Scheider (defendant) contracted with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. (plaintiff) to star in one film and a subsequent television series; the only material term the parties never nailed down in advance was the start date for filming the TV series. Scheider completed the film but then refused to do the television series. Metro sued in New York state court to enforce the contract; the trial court upheld the deal, filling the missing start date using established custom in the film industry.
Whether, when the parties have completed negotiations of the essential terms of a contract and performance has begun on the good-faith understanding that agreement on the unsettled terms will follow, an enforceable contract exists as long as some objective method of determining the missing terms is available.