Employment contracts don’t usually have a force majeure clause, they are far more likely to have the harder to enforce MAE/MAC clause, or material adverse effect/condition clause. And unless Johansson’s lawyers were incompetent there’s no way Disney would be able to invoke it. Even though COVID is an “adverse…

To follow up on my last comment, I would also be more worried about an arbitration clause in her contract than anything else. Like if SCOTUS allows for arbitration clauses to exist in contracts where we have no control over the terms, like when signing up for a credit card, if there’s an arbitration clause in her…

Any lawyer worth their salt is going to make all possible claims in their initial complaint. While there are ways to amend a complaint, they aren’t always easy, and if you don’t include all possible claims in your initial complaint and you can’t amend, you lose the right to do so.

Well the issue in the case itself will be whether Marvel breached their contract with her by allowing Disney to release it this way without her consent. For that, ScarJo doesn’t have to demonstrate the damages caused by the breach, just that there was one and Disney also tortiously interfered with her contract with…

Exactly. I haven’t read the contract, but I doubt that there’s a rock-solid provision giving Marvel the right to allow Disney to release it this way without obtaining consent from ScarJo (thus likely requiring a renegotiation to get said consent). While the argument about pushing the release date is a little shaky…

I also thought that was a bit of a stretch. Like I’m sure Disney and Marvel do whatever they can to lowball the lower-level people, but that’s not the issue here. The problem is that ScarJo’s compensation was partially based on box office receipts and Marvel allowed Disney to release it, in a way that neither she nor…

Sure, but even without COVID, an argument could be made that whatever date Disney chose to release it would have had an affect on the box office. Remember, Black Widow was originally going to be released in November. Who knows if that was the best possible time to release it?

Yeah, I agree with you even on a reasonable best efforts basis (which is unlikely). That said, when ScarJo signed the contract (which probably in OG form covered her participation in other Marvel movies), the idea that an MCU movie would be released day and date in theaters and on a streaming platform (Disney+…

I mean possibly, although force majeure clauses are really hard to enforce and are less common in employment agreements (particularly in the entertainment industry). It’s more likely there could have been a material adverse effect clause, but those are even less enforceable and probably wouldn’t work for Disney since…

Yeah, when you realize how monstrous and abusive the Karolyis were, it turns the previously heartwarming image of Bela Karolyi cradling Strug in his arms when she couldn’t walk into something stomach-curdling.

This is the exact attitude that led to such a psychologically and physically abusive culture in US Women’s Gymnastics (and I’m not referring to Nassar, although the psychological and physical abuse made the athletes particular susceptible to his grooming techniques). The Karolyis would starve these girls, berate the…

Yeah. While there’s definitely some anti-Biles impulses fueling calls to ban her from doing some of her most difficult skills, the argument that they are dangerous (and too dangerous for anyone that is not Biles to even attempt) has some merit.

Didn’t seem to be a problem for the Emmy voters when nominating Hamilton, which in addition to just being a well-done taping of a Broadway musical, was also competing in the Best Comedy/Musical Film categories at the Golden Globes earlier this year. Somehow it’s simultaneously a live musical, a movie, and a TV show.

No. Season 7 doesn’t quite have moments that are just so wildly out of character that it ruins the show, but the Palladinos weren’t involved at all, so it doesn’t feel like Gilmore Girls either.

I mean this is how our justice system works. You offer the lower level people a reduced sentence to get them to flip on the main guy and provide evidence that will help the prosecution’s case. Rainere’s main defense was that he only was aware that DOS existed, not what was actually going on. It’s pretty clear that he…

She did. Raniere’s core argument was that he wasn’t fully aware of what went down DOS and that the women involved created it themselves. Mack provided the prosecution with tapes of her and Raniere concocting the branding procedures in intimate detail. It was one of the main things that blew up his case and even if…

I feel the need to note that I’m pretty sure she’s not even Catholic. She may have gone to Catholic school but that’s because at the time she was in high school there were only 3 decent private schools in the Phoenix area: Brophy/Xavier (the all-boys/all-girls Catholic schools, respectively, that kind of share a campus…

I just recently binged it all and damn if it isn’t one of my new favorite shows. The season 2 finale was so incredible.

Exactly. Very few women I know who have participated in debutante balls did so because they wanted to. The events are all about the parents and showing off that they are members of the “elite” society wherever they live. Her dad was the CEO of a major bank with its HQ in St. Louis, and beyond that she’s part of a very…

Yeah produce at Whole Foods is often cheaper than “normal” grocery stores, and its a whole lot better.