Records of anti-trust litigation to which United Artists was a party from the 1930s to the 1950s. Most of the documented cases involve suits by small privately-owned theatres against the major motion picture studios. The theatre operators often claimed that a conspiracy in restraint of trade existed in Hollywood to deny them first-run films. As a result, United Artists and the law firms representing them often appeared in the files in only a minor way. Rather, Balaban & Katz, Columbia Pictures, Loew's, Paramount Pictures Inc., RKO, Twentieth Century-Fox, and Warner Bros. are more commonly named as the primary defendants. Occasionally allegations of price-fixing and other unlawful business practices also figured in the litigation. A large percentage of the charges were unfounded and, as a result, many were settled out of court as “nuisance” claims.
The documents included in the case files are varied in nature and extent, with each case generally consisting of correspondence and the portion known as “the record.” The correspondence and memoranda provide helpful background on each case, as well as on settlement negotiations, litigation strategies, billings, and other legal matters. The record portion of each file includes court documents such as briefs, motions, depositions, copies of the complaint, and some transcripts of court proceedings.
The files are arranged by case number but only cases 501-759, are included. (Incidental cases within the documented span are also missing.) The disposition of the missing cases is unknown. The series was originally part of the general UA legal records, but these files were apparently segregated and numbered at some point prior to shipment to WCFTR. The relationship to other United Artists legal files is unknown and the numbering system used appears to be completely random.
Among the most interesting or extensively documented cases are AC-604, Electric v. Twentieth Century-Fox, which contains transcripts of eight trial and pre-trial hearings, two depositions and excellent documentations of court action. AC-516, Brookside v. Twentieth Century-Fox; AC-519, Theatre Enterprises v. Paramount; AC-520, Milgram v. Loew's; and AC-528, Chorak v. RKO are samples of cases appealed to the Supreme Court. AC-613, Thompson v. B & K and AC-714, Lazarus v. Paramount present a good picture of the movie leasing contracts used at the time of these cases. Only in cases AC-571, 583, 680, 731, and 755, is United Artists is listed first in the list of defendants. In all of these except AC-731, it appears that the defendant listing was in random order and not based upon the strength of the case.
