Cna International Reinsurance Company, Ltd. v. Phoenix

678 So. 2d 378 (1996)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

River Phoenix died due to an overdose of illegal drugs, before the completion of two films, 'Dark Blood' and 'Interview With the Vampire,' in which he had contracted to appear. 'Dark Blood' was totally abandoned. 'Interview With the Vampire' was completed with another actor replacing Phoenix. Ps had written entertainment package insurance policies covering various aspects of the two productions. After paying the policyholders, Ps became subrogated to the claims the insureds had against the estate. P sued Phoenix (D), the estate, for breach of contract. There was an 'actor loan out agreement,' between Jude Nile, a corporation owned and run by D and his mother, Arlyn Phoenix, and Scala Productions. The agreement included a general obligation not to do anything which would deprive the parties to the agreement of its benefits. P alleged that by deliberately taking illegal drugs in quantities in excess of those necessary to kill a human being, D deprived the parties of his services and breached his obligation. American Casualty sued based on an actor loan out agreement between Jude Nile and Geffen Pictures, which gave Geffen the right to loan D to Time Warner. P's complaint contained a second count, for fraud and misrepresentation, based on an allegedly false representation in a medical certificate, allegedly signed by D, denying that D had ever used 'LSD, heroin, cocaine, alcohol in excess, or any other narcotics, depressants, stimulants or psychedelics whether prescribed or not prescribed by a physician.' D moved to dismiss both complaints because the personal services contracts were rendered impossible to perform due to death. D argued that reliance on any representation in the medical certificate was unreasonable as a matter of law as of the effective dates of the policies, which it contended were in November 1993, after the widely publicized death on October 31, 1993. The trial court granted the motions to dismiss with prejudice. Ps appealed. Ps contend that the defense of impossibility of performance does not apply because that doctrine requires that the impossibility be fortuitous and unavoidable and that it occurs through no fault of either party. The death occurred from an intentional, massive overdose of illegal drugs, and that is not a situation in which neither party was at fault. The trial court ruled that even if the death was a suicide (there is no indication in the record that it was) or the result of an intentional, self-inflicted act, the doctrine of impossibility of performance applied.