Gallo v. National Nursing Homes, Inc.
| Decision Date | 23 January 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 699-A,699-A |
| Citation | 106 R.I. 485,261 A.2d 19 |
| Parties | Frank GALLO d.b.a. Gallo Construction Co. v. NATIONAL NURSING HOMES, INC. and Kent Nursing Home, Inc. ppeal. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
This is a civil action wherein the plaintiff, a builder, seeks to recover damages allegedly owed him by the defendants. Hereafter, we shall refer to one defendant as 'National' and the other as 'Kent.' The case is before us on the plaintiff's appeal from the judgment entered by a Superior Court justice granting Kent's motion for a summary judgment.
The record shows that Kent owns and operates a nursing home in Warwick. On December 15, 1967, Kent and National entered into a written contract whereby National would build an addition to the nursing home. Later, in June 1968, National and plaintiff agreed that plaintiff, as a subcontractor of National, would furnish labor and materials incidental to the erection of the addition. During the course of performing his contract, plaintiff was ordered to make certain changes in the construction of the addition whereby he incurred additional expenses not called for in the original subcontract. The plaintiff's suit against National is for money owed under the June 1968 agreement and for the extras ordered by National which were over and above the subcontract price. His suit against Kent is based on an implied contract. He alleges that Kent benefited from his efforts and therefore it was bound to pay him for the fair and reasonable value of the addition and improvements made to its property. The plaintiff conceded that he had no express contract with Kent.
The entry of a summary judgment is authorized by Rule 56(c) of the Rules of Civil Procedure of the Superior Court when '* * * the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as matter of law.'
In the affidavit offered by Kent in support of its motion, one of its officers averred that Kent had authorized no person at any time in its behalf to enter into any agreement with anyone but National for the construction for said addition; that no person acting on Kent's behalf did, in fact, enter into an agreement relating to the addition with anyone other than National, and that no person or organization other than National ever submitted a bill or claim to Kent until the suit was commenced.
The plaintiff in opposing Kent's motion filed an affidavit wherein he stated that plaintiff had been hired by National as a subcontractor; that he had been ordered by National to alter the construction of the addition; and that, to his information and belief, the alterations had been ordered of National by Kent. The plaintiff concluded the material portion of his affidavit by declaring that National had been 'acting either as agent or contractor' of Kent when it ordered plaintiff to construct the addition. It is upon this last allegation that plaintiff's appeal to this court is grounded. The plaintiff contends that the affidavit he offered in opposition to Kent's motion placed in issue the question of whether National was acting as Kent's agent. We do not think so.
Although this court recognizes that summary judgment is an extreme remedy which should not be used as a substitute for a trial, it also recognizes that Rule 56 is designed to decide in an expeditious fashion cases presenting groundless claims and actions in which specious denials or sham defenses have been interposed to clearly meritorious claims. 1 Kent, Rhode Island Civil Practice, § 56.1, at 414. The summary-judgment procedure is designed '* * * to pierce the pleadings and to assess the proof in order to see whether...
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