Southern Christian Leadership Conference v. Al Malaikah Auditorium Co.

Introduction

In this case an auditorium accepted a deposit from a concert producer to reserve the auditorium on a specific date. Before a lease was executed, the auditorium received a more lucrative offer from another prospective tenant for that date, canceled the concert producer’s reservation, and returned the deposit. In the published portion of the opinion, we affirm a jury’s finding that in such circumstances the auditorium breached a contract with the concert producer. We also affirm the trial court’s award of Code of Civil Procedure section 128.5 sanctions against defendant. In an unpublished portion of the opinion we consider and reject defendant auditorium’s remaining contentions of error.

On November 9, 1983, plaintiffs, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles (SCLC) and The Foundation for New American Music, Inc. (FNAM or the Foundation) filed a complaint for anticipatory breach of contract, specific performance, temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, and permanent injunction against defendant A1 Malaikah Auditorium Company (doing business as Shrine Auditorium Co.) and 10 unnamed defendants. The complaint arose from a…