Volver a empezar

(1982)   Tags: Fox

John Whitney STILLMAN d/b/a Stillman International v. NICKEL ODEON, S.A.

Plaintiff, a New York foreign language film licensing and sales agent, has instituted this action based on an alleged oral agreement entered into by plaintiff and defendant Nickel Odeon, a Spanish film company owned by defendants Alenda and Garci, making plaintiff the exclusive licensing agent for a Spanish film entitled “Volver a Empezar.

Judgment: Nickel Odeon’s motion for summary judgment with respect to plaintiff’s claims of breach of the alleged oral agreement (claims 1 and 2) is denied. Insofar as the motion of defendants Nickel Odeon, Garci and Alenda for summary judgment with respect to the February 1983 agreement between the parties (claims 4 and 5) is predicated on the application and interpretation of Spanish law, the motion is denied. Insofar as defendants Nickel Odeon, Garci, Alenda, and S/R/L’s motion for summary judgment with respect to some of plaintiff’s claims of tortious interference with his contracts (claims 6-8 and 13-19) is based on the assumed invalidity of these contracts under Spanish law, see Defendant’s Memorandum of Law, at 7, 14-15, the motion is denied. Finally, defendant S/R/L’s motion for summary judgment with respect to plaintiff’s tortious interference claim is denied. Defendant claims that the only evidence which plaintiff has produced in support of this claim is hearsay and that such evidence is insufficient to defeat a motion for summary judgment. The evidence produced by plaintiff in support of his claim is summarized in the affidavit of Howard W. Rachlin, Esq., plaintiff’s counsel, and includes various exhibits, responses to interrogatories, and deposition testimony of plaintiff, plaintiff’s former counsel, and S/R/L’s president. Without opining as to the persuasiveness of each of these sources of evidence, perusal of these materials nevertheless reveals that plaintiff does not rely simply on hearsay affidavits in opposing defendant’s summary judgment motion. Cf. Schwimmer v. Sony Corp. of America, 637 F.2d 41, 45 n. 9 (2d Cir.1980). The factual issues raised by plaintiff’s submissions cannot properly be resolved at this stage of the litigation. Defendant’s motion for summary judgment on this basis is therefore denied