QUESTION

Can I sue someone for recording a production, I wrote with the intent of providing me with a copy; only to destroy it without my permission?

Asked on Jun 04th, 2012 on Entertainment Law - Maryland
More details to this question:
I wrote a gospel play and was asked by a director if I would mind performing it at her church. I was told that everything was a go and it was approved by the Pastor. After Filming I was told the Pastor has some suggestions about making the play better. I asked about a week later about the copy of the play and was told to send an email to the Tech guy because he gets busy. I sent the email. Two weeks later I received a response that said the Pastor did not agree with some of the content and they decided to destroy the reel. I Responded and requested the Pastor to be notified that this was my Once in a lifetime chance to get a video copy of my very First performance of my play and had I known this would be the outcome I would have put the play on somwhere else and recorded it myself. A week passed and no response. I sent another email and expressed my dissapointment and said either I would need a copy of the play or compensation for my services. I have yet to hear anything.
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1 ANSWER

Unfortunately you cannot get back the video that was destroyed. To have any recourse, you would have to enforce your agreement that they provide you a copy. If you have a written agreement, look to see what their obligations were on providing you a copy. If you believe you had an oral agreement, you would have to prove the terms of that agreement. Regardless once the copy is gone there is nothing they can do to replace it. This could be an issue in proving your "damages" because a court will only order payment of money "damages" if the amount of damage can be proven. You could ask for punitive damages, but those are extremely rare in breach of contract cases.
Answered on Jul 02nd, 2012 at 4:06 PM

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