Academy Chicago Publishers v. Cheever

144 Ill.2d 24, 578 N.E.2d 981 (1991)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Mrs. Cheever (D) was the widow of John Cheever and was contacted by Academy (P) to see if she was willing to publish an anthology of her late husband’s work. D agreed, and P began the work, and it progressed quite well until D informed P that she no longer wanted to honor the contract. D had received partial advances, and P had located and delivered more than 60 uncollected stories. D did attempt to return the advance. P sued D for a declaratory judgment. The trial court entered a declaratory order. P had the exclusive right to publish, and it ordered D to deliver the manuscript from which the work was to be published and that D was entitled to select the short stories to be included in the manuscript and that D would comply with her obligation in good faith if she delivered a manuscript including at least 10-15 stories totaling at least 140 pages. P was to control the design and format of the work published in cooperation with D. P appealed contesting the declaration that the contractual obligations would be satisfied by delivering a manuscript of at least 10-15 stories totaling at least 140 pages and matters concerning communication with D regarding the publication of the work. The Appellate court reversed the part regarding the control of the publication of the work; the trial court erred in considering extrinsic evidence to interpret the agreement regarding control of the publication given the explicit language that granted P exclusive control. Both parties appealed.