## Facts

- In 1976, Tina Marie Brockert (Teena Marie) entered written, exclusive personal services contracts with Motown Record Corporation (recording artist services) and Jobete Music Company, Inc. (songwriting services).
- The contracts included multiple annual option periods exercisable unilaterally by Motown/Jobete, which were exercised through the sixth (final) option period.
- A disputed provision gave Motown/Jobete an option to pay Brockert a minimum of $6,000 per year.
- After Brockert became commercially successful, she notified Motown/Jobete she would not continue performing under the agreements and sought to end the relationship during the final option period.
- Motown/Jobete responded by exercising the $6,000 payment option and sought a preliminary injunction preventing Brockert from performing for others until the contracts expired.
- The trial court granted a preliminary injunction restraining Brockert from performing singing and songwriting services for any entity other than Motown/Jobete during the remaining contract term.

## Issues

1. Whether a personal services contract that gives the employer only an option to pay at least $6,000 per year satisfies Civil Code § 3423’s minimum-compensation requirement for injunctive relief restraining breach.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal reversed the order granting the preliminary injunction.
- The court held that an option to pay $6,000 per year does not satisfy the statute’s requirement that the contract provide a minimum compensation of $6,000 per year.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with the opinion.

## Legal Principles

- Under Civil Code § 3423, injunctive relief restraining breach of a personal services contract is available only if statutory conditions are met, including that the contract provides a minimum annual compensation (then $6,000) during the period sought to be enjoined.
- A clause allowing the employer, at its election, to pay the statutory minimum does not “provide” minimum compensation because it does not guarantee the performer that minimum from the outset.
- An employer’s later exercise of a payment option cannot retroactively cure a contract’s failure to include a guaranteed minimum compensation term at contract formation.
- Courts construe the statutory minimum-compensation requirement to prevent employers from obtaining injunctive leverage over performers without a bona fide, contractually secured minimum income obligation.

## Conclusion

The court set aside the preliminary injunction because the agreements did not guarantee Brockert the statutory minimum annual compensation required for injunctive enforcement of an exclusive personal services contract; an employer’s discretionary option to pay the minimum is insufficient.


Motown Record Corp. v. Brockert, 160 Cal. App. 3d 123, 207 Cal. Rptr. 574 (Ct. App. 1984)