Film year book (1935)

appeal be filed or mailed by registered mail or delivered in writing not later than five (5) days after the decision of the Local Board is rendered, in which case the protest, with all evidence taken before the Local Clearance and Zoning Board, shall be referred to the Code Authority, i (b) All persons interested in the decision I shall have the right to appear before the Code I Authority and present additional evidence. The Code Authority, after investigating such protest and reviewing the evidence theretofore taken and considering the additional evidence, if any, shall I promptly render its decision, and not later than |i fifteen (IS) days from and after the date of i the hearing upon the appeal. The requirement ; as to the various steps herein prescribed shall be mandatory in order to give full relief before the I buying season commences. Sec. 8. (a) The schedules presented and/or ' decisions made by any Local Clearance and Zoning Board and/or decisions of the Code Authority upon any appeal to it, shall be binding upon all Distributors and Exhibitors in the territory affected. (b) Pending the final determination of any dispute or controversy all existing contracts bei! tween the disputants shall continue to be perjl formed in every respect. I I Sec. 9. The jurisdiction of the Local Clearance I| and Zoning Board shall be limited as herein specifically provided and such Board shall hear no quest'ons other than those pertaining strictly to clearance and zoning matters. Part 2. Grievance Boards. — Section 1. The complaint of any Exhibitor that a competing Exhibitor has committed any of the acts set forth in the following paragraphs (a), (b"), (c), and (d) with the intenrion and effect of depriving, without just cause, the complaining Exhibitor of a sufficient number of motion pictures to operate such Exhibitor's theater, shall be referred for determination to a Local Grievance Board consti 1 tuted as hereinafter provided : (a) The licensing of more motion pictures than are reasonably required. (b) The adoption of an unfairly competing operating policy of unnecessary and too frequent changes of motion pictures. (c) The exaction without just cause of an agreement from any Distributor as a condition for entering into a contract for motion pictures } that such Distributor refrain from Ixensing its motion pictures to the complaining Exhibitor. (d; The commission of any other similar act with the intent and effect of depriving without just cause the complaining Exhibitor of a suffic'ent number of motion pictures to operate such Exhibitor's theater. \ Sec. 2. Each such complaint shall be in writing i| and made immediately after knowledge of the commission of the act or acts complained of, or in cases where an act or acts is threatened, immediately after notice thereof, and the Local Grievance Board after a fair and impartial consideration I of all of the facts presented, a full, expeditious i and complete hearing of all the part'es concerned, including the Exhibitors directly involved, the Distributors having contracts with the Exhibitor complained against, and Exhibitors having contracts for runs subsequent to_ each of the Exhibitors d'rectly involved, and if it deems it npcessary. an independent investigation of the facts, shall make a prompt determination of each complaint submitted to it. i Sec. 3. The Local Grievance Board shall _ determine whether or not any Exhibitor conriplained of has committed any of the acts specified in paragraphs (a), (b). (c). and (d1 of Section 1 of Part 2 hereof, and shall make findings of fact in such regard. The Local Grievance Board upon the facts found shall make an award (a) dismissing the complaint, or (b) granting such reI'ef as the Local Board may deem appropriate. The Local Grievance Board shall not have power to award damages. No award shall be made in favor of a complaining Exhibitor unless the Local Grievance Board shall find as a fact that the complaining Exhibitor is able, ready, and willing to fully carry out and comply with all of the terms and conditions which may be fixed by the Local Grievance Board as a condition for mak ng the award, which terms and conditions shall in no event be less favorable to the Distributor concerned than those contained in the license contract of the Exhibitor complained of, including the Distributor's loss of revenue, if any, resulting from the elimination of or reduction of revenue from any subsequent run or runs made necessary by such award, and such other terms and conditions as the Local Grievance Board may prescribe. Sec. 4. All complaints and grievances of Exhibitors or Distributors concerning provisions of this Code or otherwise and not specifically designated to be heard or passed upon the first instance by the Code Authority or by arbitration or by the Local Clearance and Zoning Board shall be heard by the Local Grievance Board, and if such Local Board by a majority vote of the representatives thereon shall deem that any such complaint or grievance shall be certified to the Code Authority for determination, it shall be so certified, and the Code Authority shall consider and determine the same ; otherwise such complaint or grievance shall be dismissed with a right of appeal from such dismissal to the Code Authority. .Such proceedings before the Local Grievance Board and before the Code Authority shall be within the periods of time hereinafter prescribed in Section 6 and 7 hereof. Sec. 5. Each Distributor shall have the right to license all or any number of the motion pictures distributed by such Distributor for exhibition at theaters affiliated with such Distributor, and no Local Grievance Board shall have jurisdiction to hear or determine any complaint by any Exhibitor based upon the fact that a Distributor has I'censed the motion pictures distributed by it for exhibition at theaters affiliated with such Distributor. Sec. 6. (a) There shall be established a Local Grievance Board, appointed by the Code Authority, in each exchange territory. Each such Board shall consist of two representatives of Distributors, one of whom shall be a National Distributor with theater affiliations and one of whom shall be a Distributor without circuit theater affiliations, and two representatives of Exhibitors, one of whom shall be an affiliated Exhibitor, if there be one, and one of whom shall be an unaffiliated Exhibitor, and one person who shall have no direct or indirect affiliation with any branch of the motion picture industry, who shall be approved by the Administrator, who shall be regarded as the impartial representative of the Code Authority, and who shall vote on any question before the Board only in the case where the Board is deadlocked. There shall be a Chairman of each Board, selected by a majority vote of the members of the Board. Any vacancy in the Board shall be filled from the class of members in which the vacancy occurred. No member of such Board shall sit on any matter involving his own or his company's interest. (b) The decision of each Local Board upon any question submitted to it shall be determined by a majority vote, but in case the Board is evently divided, such question shall be submitted for determination to the impartial representative of the Code Authority, as provided in paragraph (a) of this Section. The decision of the Board and/or the impartial representative, as the case may be. shall be in writing. All decisions of the Local Board shall be made within fifteen (15^ days from the filing of the protest, grievance, or complaint, or within three (3) business days after the parties shall have been fully heard, whichever date is earlier. Sec. 7. (a) Any party aggrieved by any decision of the Local Board shall have the absolute right to appeal therefrom to the Code Authority, provided such appeal be filed or mailed by registered mail or delivered in writing not later than five (5) days after the decision of the Local Board is rendered, in which case the grievance or complaint, together with all the evidence taken before the Local Board shall be referred to the Code Authority.