Adrian Scott v. Rko Radio Pictures, Inc., a Corporation

Plaintiff-appellant Scott, a screen director, was discharged by defendant-appellee RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., on November 26, 1947, after his participation as a witness in hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities of the United States House of Representatives. At the time of the discharge, Scott was working with RKO under an unexpired written contract dated February 10, 1947.

This case is the third of three discharged witnesses of the motion picture industry to come on appeal to this court. The previous cases are Loew’s, Inc. v. Cole, 9 Cir., 185 F.2d 641 , and Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. v. Lardner, 9 Cir., 216 F.2d 844 . The statement of this case will be abbreviated by reference to the two prior cases.

The complaint herein was filed January 21, 1948. Meanwhile, Scott had been indicted in the District of Columbia for refusal to answer the committee’s questions. Of this crime he was convicted on June 22, 1950. Sentence of one year was imposed on September 27, 1950, and the term of service thereunder was completed about July 28, 1951.

RKO in its notice of discharge to Scott asserted he had breached the “morals clause” of his contract and hurt the company by…