Opinion ID: 1961992
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: termination date of the agreement

Text: The issue of the termination date of the agreement was not argued or briefed by the parties as a result of the lower court's ruling on other issues. However, this court will consider the issue since it must consider all grounds for possible affirmance appearing from the opinion and record before it. [22] Appellees did argue in the court below, and in fact grounded their complaints on the claim, that the lack of a termination date for the right of first refusal rendered it invalid. Appellant WPVI-TV claimed at trial, and offered testimony and exhibits tending to support, that it drafted Paragraph 5 in accordance with other agreements in the industry containing such rights of first refusal. However, each similar agreement presented by appellant as evidence contained a fixed term of the agreement and contained reasonably clear language establishing that the right of first refusal was to be exercised within the term of the agreement. [23] Moreover, each was negotiated with a corporate distributor in the television industry, thus resulting in a common industry understanding of the language used. In the case of the agreement in suit, appellant WPVI-TV, who drafted the agreement, neglected to insert any designation whatsoever of the term of the agreement. With regard to the primary performance of the agreement, this creates no problem, for the central portion of the agreement relates to specific payments to be made for specific performances to be held on the three specific dates, January 1, 1978, January 1, 1979 and January 1, 1980. Some vagueness does arise with regard to the dates for other programs mentioned in Paragraph 1 of the agreement, resulting in a lack of clarity as to whether any portion of the agreement is expected to survive beyond January 1, 1980. We are here faced with language so vague, as it relates to dates in which performance of duties under the contract is required, that any attempt to construe the contract may be seen as actually rewriting the contract for the parties. To the extent any construction is possible, the contract must be construed most strongly against the claims of appellant in light of the combination of the factors of appellant's greater sophistication in the television industry and the fact that appellant drafted the agreement and must therefore accept the burden of the uncertainty created by its omission of the Term of the Agreement paragraph normal to the industry. While Paragraph 5 does use language relating to a right to renew this agreement beyond the termination date, thus must be read to mean to enter into a new agreement for the period beyond the termination date when it is construed with the rest of the agreement and in light of its purpose. Similarly, the language indicating that such new agreement shall be based upon an offer received by Association beyond the termination date cannot possibly be read to mean that appellant has the right to meet all offers in the future, but clearly must be read to mean that the appellant had the right to meet such an offer received by the Association during the term of the agreement, for performance beyond the termination date. In short, while the parties had the right and ability to draft and enter into an agreement which could have required the performance by some party of an obligation during some specifically limited period of time after the termination date of the agreement, they did not do so. At the very most, by reference to the period of time granted appellant WPVI-TV for response to notice, the agreement may be read to extend its right for the specific two-month period after the termination date. There remains the question of whether we can ascertain a termination date and make a determination of the specific period of time during which performance was required of the parties. Since the latest date mentioned in the agreement is January 1, 1980, we are forced to conclude that that date is intended as the termination date of the agreement. This construction is supported by the testimony of the Vice President and General Manager of appellant WPVI-TV that the prior agreement dated November 5, 1974 had expired on January 1, 1977. [24] Although representatives of appellant did refer to the prior contract as a three year contract both the above testimony and the conduct of the parties in entering into a new agreement prior to November 5, 1977 demonstrate that it was viewed as a tri-annual agreement, the three annual parades covered in the agreement setting the actual contract dates. From all of the foregoing, we must conclude either that any obligation under the agreement imposed upon appellee Association to give notice of a bona fide offer which it was determined to accept expired at midnight on January 1, 1980, or the agreement is so vague as to termination date as to require that we hold that it was null and void for want of a term central to the agreement. In either event, we hold that no right of first refusal existed in appellant WPVI-TV on June 19, 1980 when appellee Association received the bona fide offer which it was determined to accept. Appellee Association was therefore free at all relevant times to contract with whomever it pleased.