## Facts

- Miramax Films Corporation distributed *Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!* in the United States; Pedro Almodóvar directed the film.
- The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA), a private trade association, administered a voluntary film rating system (G, PG, PG-13, R, X) aimed at reflecting the sensibilities of the “average American parent.”
- Miramax submitted the film for rating; a seven-member ratings board unanimously assigned an “X” rating, citing two sexually explicit scenes.
- Miramax appealed within the MPAA; the Ratings Appeal Board vote tied, leaving the X rating in place.
- Miramax withdrew from the MPAA process and released the film unrated; plaintiffs alleged this (like an X rating) substantially limited exhibition and advertising due to common industry practices.
- Plaintiffs brought a CPLR Article 78 proceeding seeking an order effectively changing the rating to “R,” or a declaration that the rating system and the X rating were arbitrary and capricious.

## Issues

1. Whether the MPAA’s assignment of an X rating to the film could be reviewed and set aside as “arbitrary and capricious” in an Article 78 proceeding.
2. Whether a private, voluntary film-rating system constitutes governmental or quasi-governmental action subject to public-law constraints, including constitutional censorship principles.

## Decision

- The court granted the MPAA’s motion to dismiss the Article 78 petition.
- The court held the X rating had a rational basis in the film’s content, particularly the two sexually explicit scenes, and was not arbitrary and capricious.
- The court ruled the MPAA ratings process was private and voluntary, not governmental censorship or state action.
- The court refused to substitute its judgment for the MPAA’s subjective suitability determination.

## Legal Principles

- Article 78 review is generally directed to governmental or administrative action; extending it to a private ratings organization is disfavored absent a comparable legal duty.
- A private, voluntary advisory ratings system does not constitute state action, even if market participants treat ratings as important for distribution and advertising.
- A rating decision supported by stated content-based reasons satisfies rational-basis review and will not be invalidated as arbitrary and capricious without proof of bad faith, bias, or irrationality.
- Economic consequences and stigma associated with a private rating do not, without government involvement, transform the rating into censorship subject to First Amendment constraints.

## Conclusion

The court dismissed Miramax’s Article 78 challenge and upheld the MPAA’s X rating, concluding that the MPAA’s voluntary, private ratings system was not state action and that the rating had a rational basis grounded in the film’s sexually explicit content.


Miramax Films Corp. v. Motion Picture Ass'n of Am., Inc., 148 Misc. 2d 1, 560 N.Y.S.2d 730 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cnty. 1990)