Anglia Television v. Reed

Facts

The Defendant, Robert Reed (the “Defendant”), was an actor employed by the Plaintiff, Anglia Television Ltd. (the “Plaintiff”), to star in a film of a play for television entitled “The Man of the Wood.” The Plaintiff arranged most of the details for the film including its location, director, designer and stage manager, etc. The Defendant’s agent agreed via telephone conversation on August 30, 1968 that the Defendant would be available between September 9, 1968 and October 11, 1968 to come to England to rehearse and play in the film. However, the Defendant was double booked because the Defendant’s agent had booked him in America for another play. On September 3, 1968, the Plaintiff learned the Defendant was not available. At that time, the Defendant repudiated the contract. The Plaintiff tried to find a replacement, but had no luck doing so. As such, the Plaintiff on September 11, 1968 accepted the Defendant’s repudiation and gave notice to all the people they had engaged. The Plaintiff then sued the Defendant for damages because although liability was not in dispute, the amount of damages were. The Plaintiff could not say how much profit they would have made if the defendant had performed the contract, so they instead claimed for their wasted expenditure. The Plaintiff’s wasted expenditure totaled 2750 pounds and included “director’s fees, the designer’s fees, the state manager’s and assistant manger’s fees, and so on.”