Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-of-appeal/1121596.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 17:36:22+00:00

Document:
Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 2, California.
Michael POLYDOROS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION et al., Defendants and Respondents.
Nate G. Kraut,N. Hollywood, Freund & Brackey, Jonathan D. Freund and Thomas A. Brackey II, Beverly Hills, for Plaintiff and Appellant. Wyman, Isaacs, Blumental & Lynne, Bruce Isaacs, Valerie Waldman, Karen Brodkin, Doniger & Fetter, Thomas Doniger, Henry D. Fetter, Los Angeles, Stein & Kahan, Stanton L. Stein, Marcia J. Harris and Gregory A. Nylen, Santa Monica, for Defendants and Respondents.
A noncelebrity sued the makers and distributors of a film called “The Sandlot” (Twentieth Century Fox 1993), claiming that the filmmakers invaded his privacy by appropriating his name and likeness. We conclude that the filmmakers' release of a patently fictional movie did not invade the plaintiff's privacy and is, in any event, protected by constitutional guarantees of free expression. Moreover, the film is not defamatory. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's judgment in favor of the defendant filmmakers.
In 1993, respondents released “The Sandlot,” a comedic coming-of-age story set in the San Fernando Valley in the 1960's. The film's protagonists are a motley group of boys on a sandlot baseball team who, in the course of one summer, overcome various adversaries, including a disdainful, well-funded opposing team and a gigantic, ferocious dog that has taken possession of the team's baseballs and secreted them in a neighboring yard. One of the boys on the sandlot team is a character named Michael Palledorous, nicknamed “Squints.” The Palledorous character is one of the team's leaders, and spearheads the team's valiant efforts to reclaim a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth from the slavering canine next door.
Appellant Michael Polydoros grew up in a setting similar to that described in the film. Appellant was a schoolmate of respondent David Mickey Evans. Evans wrote and directed “The Sandlot.” A photograph of appellant dating from the 1960's is similar to a photograph of the Palledorous character in the movie, right down to appellant's eyeglasses and the color and design of his shirt. Appellant played baseball with friends on a sandlot when he was a child, swam in a community pool like the one shown in the movie, and was somewhat obstreperous, like the “Squints” character. Other than the similarity in names and attire, the enjoyment of baseball and swimming, and the brash nature of the “Squints” character, appellant cannot point to any other aspects in which the film accurately depicts his life. Appellant concedes that the work is fiction. He also concedes that he has not been financially damaged by the motion picture.
Piqued by the similarities in name and by the physical likeness of the “Squints” character to himself as a child, appellant filed suit in March of 1994. The operative pleading asserts causes of action for commercial appropriation of identity, invasion of privacy, negligence and defamation. Appellant alleges that the nickname “Squints” used in the film “is a blatantly derogatory moniker derived from the thick glasses the character wears throughout the film” and that people began teasing appellant by calling him “Squints.” Appellant felt “embarrassed and humiliated” by the nickname. To make matters worse, in appellant's view, respondents used the “Squints” Palledorous character as their principal advertising image for the film.
In January of 1996, the parties filed cross motions for summary judgment. The trial court ruled in favor of respondents on March 25, 1996. It found that respondents are entitled to judgment because their film and the characters it portrays are protected speech under the federal and state Constitutions. The court also concluded that “The Sandlot” is demonstrably a work of fiction which does not defame Polydoros as a matter of law. A timely appeal was taken from the trial court's judgment.
For the reasons cited in Aguilar and Maggio, the cases above, appellant cannot state a claim that respondents invaded his privacy by appropriating his name or likeness for commercial purposes. First, there was a marked difference in age and appearance between our appellant, the 40-year-old Michael Polydoros, and the 10-year-old character of Squints Palledorous. No person seeing this film could confuse the two. Second, the rudimentary similarities in locale and boyhood activities do not make “The Sandlot” a film about appellant's life. This is a universal theme and a concededly fictional film. The faint outlines appellant has seized upon do not transform the fiction into fact.
Guglielmi unequivocally prevents appellant from proceeding on his claim for commercial appropriation of identity. There is no question that “The Sandlot” is a fanciful work of fiction and imagination. In the movie, the dog next door to the sandlot assumes the proportions of a grizzly bear (having been magnified by the boys' fear); baseball hero Babe Ruth appears and offers advice (notwithstanding Ruth's death some 20 years before the movie takes place); the dog's owner just happens to be a former teammate of Babe Ruth; the “Squints” character fakes his own drowning death in order to sneak a kiss from the pretty female lifeguard, and so on. Appellant does not attempt to suggest that any of this is true or actually happened to him.5 Because the film is obvious fantasy, appellant could not reasonably suffer injury to his feelings or his peace of mind. (See Dora v. Frontline Video, Inc. (1993) 15 Cal.App.4th 536, 542, 18 Cal.Rptr.2d 790.) This film is not a portrait of appellant's life and reveals no private facts about appellant: his name and former physical appearance are not private facts.
In sum, appellant is not entitled to recover under a commercial appropriation of name or likeness theory merely because respondents used a name that sounds like appellant's name or employed an actor who resembles appellant at the age of 10. Because respondents were creating a fictionalized artistic work, their endeavor is constitutionally protected. This right was not diminished when respondents advertised then sold their work as mass public entertainment.
Appellant argues that even if respondents are “immune” from liability under Civil Code section 3344, they can nevertheless be found liable for negligence using section 3344 as a standard of care. His argument is unpersuasive. Respondents are “immune” from liability because they have a constitutional right to free expression, which they exercised when they made and released this film. Because respondents' artistic effort is constitutionally guaranteed, it was not negligent. Nor was respondents' use of the “Squints” character negligent because there is an entertainment industry custom of obtaining “clearance” of all characters featured in both fictional and nonfiction motion pictures. It simply was not necessary to do so in this case. The industry custom of obtaining “clearance” establishes nothing, other than the unfortunate reality that many filmmakers may deem it wise to pay a small sum up front for a written consent to avoid later having to spend a small fortune to defend unmeritorious lawsuits such as this one.
Finally, the “defamatory” language to which appellant points is not actionable. Whether a published statement is actionable fact or nonactionable opinion is to be decided by the court as a matter of law. (Baker v. Los Angeles Herald Examiner (1986) 42 Cal.3d 254, 260, 228 Cal.Rptr. 206, 721 P.2d 87.) Rhetorical hyperbole and vigorous epithets are not defamatory, and to label them so would subvert the right to free speech. (Greenbelt Pub. Assn. v. Bresler (1970) 398 U.S. 6, 14, 90 S.Ct. 1537, 1541, 26 L.Ed.2d 6; Gregory v. McDonnell Douglas Corp. (1976) 17 Cal.3d 596, 601, 131 Cal.Rptr. 641, 552 P.2d 425. See also Letter Carriers v. Austin (1974) 418 U.S. 264, 267-268, 284, 94 S.Ct. 2770, 2772-2773, 2780, 41 L.Ed.2d 745 [publication calling plaintiff a “scab,” which was then defined in the piece as a “traitor” who had “rotten principles” and lacked character, while pejorative, was not libelous].) In the context presented here, a playground setting populated by small boys, childish name-calling can hardly be deemed defamatory. The playful exaggerations bandied by the fictional movie characters obviously do not apply to 40-year-old Michael Polydoros.
3. The New York statute imposed a criminal penalty on those making unauthorized commercial use of a person's name or likeness.
4. A brief per curiam opinion in Guglielmi follows a companion case, Lugosi v. Universal Pictures (1979) 25 Cal.3d 813, 160 Cal.Rptr. 323, 603 P.2d 425. A second opinion authored by the Chief Justice is joined by three other justices and addresses the constitutional issues. All references to Guglielmi are to the second opinion.
FUKUTO and NOTT, JJ., concur.

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