Monogram Industries, Inc. v. Statewide Theatre Circuit, Inc.

Plaintiff appeals from the judgment entered in favor of defendant following a nonjury trial. Although the subject matter of the dispute presented for determination gives the superficial appearance of complexity, the single determinative issue in the ease appears rather simple and its correct resolution quite clear and definite. The appearance of complexity is created almost entirely by the many *869 metamorphoses undergone by the present corporate parties hereto, and their predecessors in interest, and by the numerous component contracts of purchase that together constituted the entire transaction, only one of which contracts actually constitutes the basis of the controversy presented by this appeal.

In substance, the parties, through their predecessors in interest, 1 entered into a complex and detailed agreement whereby appellant agreed to sell and respondent agreed to buy the fee interests in four motion picture theaters and the leasehold interests in seven other theaters. This agreement is represented by three quite intricate documents of 16, 2 and 18 pages in length, respectively. With great particularity, the parties spelled out, inter alia, the manner in which the total…