Rafael Chodos, an Individual v. West Publishing Company, Inc., a Minnesota Corporation Doing Business in California Dba Bancroft-Whitney Company

This case presents the question whether a publisher retains the right to reject an author’s manuscript written pursuant to a standard industry agreement, even though the manuscript is-of the quality contemplated by both parties. In this case, attorney Rafael Chodos entered into a standard Author Agreement with the Bancrofts Whitney Publishing Company under which he agreed to write a treatise on the intriguing subject of the law of fiduciary duty. The agreement is widely used in the publishing industry for traditional literary works as well as for specialized volumes. Bancrofh-Whitney thought that the treatise would be successful commercially and that it would result in substantial profits for both the author and the publisher. After Chodos had spent a number of years fulfilling his part of the bargain and had submitted a completed manuscript, Ban-crofb-Whitney’s successor, the West Publishing Company, came to a contrary conclusion. It declined to publish the treatise, citing solely sales and marketing reasons. Like a good lawyer, Chodos responded by suing for damages, first for breach of contract, and then, after amending his complaint to drop that claim, in quantum me-ruit. The…