Mcdonald v. John P. Scripps Newspaper

257 Cal. Rptr. 473 (1989)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P was a contestant in the 1987 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. The contest is open to all students through the eighth grade who are under the age of 16. P won competitions at the classroom and school-wide levels. This earned him the chance to compete against other skilled spellers in the county-wide spelling bee. The best speller in the county wins a trip to Washington D.C. and a place in the national finals. The winner of the national finals is declared the national champion speller. Stephen Chen and Victor Wang, both competed in the spelling contest. Stephen lost his school-wide competition to Victor. Stephen was asked to spell the word 'horsy.' He spelled it 'h-o-r-s-e-y.' The spelling was ruled incorrect. Victor spelled the same word 'h-o-r-s-y.' He then spelled another word correctly and was declared the winner. Contest officials later discovered that there are two proper spellings of the word 'horsy,' and that Stephen's spelling was correct after all. Contest officials asked Stephen and Victor to again compete between themselves in order to declare one winner. Victor refused. Contest officials decided to allow both Victor and Stephen to advance to the county-wide spelling bee, where P lost to Stephen. P filed suit alleging breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. P claims that had Stephen not progressed to the county-wide competition, he, P, would have won. D demurred and the court dismissed the complaint and P appealed.