Rosi v. Business Furniture Corp., No. 30S05-9306-CV-671

• Docket Nº: No. 30S05-9306-CV-671
• Citation: 615 N.E.2d 431
• Case Date: June 18, 1993
• Court: Supreme Court of Indiana

Page 431

615 N.E.2d 431 Richard A. ROSI, Appellant (Plaintiff Below),
v.
BUSINESS FURNITURE CORPORATION, Appellee (Defendant Below). No. 30S05-9306-CV-671. Supreme Court of Indiana. June 18, 1993.

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Frank B. Harshey, Indianapolis, for appellant.

David E. Wright, Robert C. Wolf, David R. Day, Johnson, Smith, Densborn, Wright & Heath, Indianapolis, for appellee.

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

This case illustrates the operation of our 1991 amendments to Indiana Trial Rule 56. In moving for summary judgment, both parties were obliged to designate the evidentiary matter upon which their legal contentions rested. On the basis of the material so designated, the trial court properly granted summary judgment for the defendant.

Facts and Procedural History

Richard A. Rosi was employed by Business Furniture Corporation (BFC) as manager of its carpet and floor covering department until October 1987, when he was terminated after his department was eliminated. Rosi later sued BFC for commissions he claimed were owed him. Count I of Rosi's complaint alleged that BFC committed fraud in misrepresenting the compensation to which he was entitled for certain years of his employment. Count II alleged that BFC violated Ind.Code Ann. Sec. 22-2-5-1 (West 1991) when it refused to pay him compensation for jobs which were completed after his termination. Rosi alleged that he and BFC had entered into a contract whereby he would be paid a 26% commission on the adjusted gross profit of his department's sales. He further alleged that an interoffice document, entitled "Personnel Action Request" (PAR), contained the parties' agreement.

Rosi and BFC each moved for summary judgment. BFC's motion asserted: (1) that no agreement between Rosi and BFC existed which provided for compensating Rosi for 1987 on the basis of jobs which were completed after his termination; (2) that Rosi provided no evidence of fraud to support Count I; and (3) that the PAR was not a contract, and Rosi alleged no other agreement which could provide a basis for his compensation claim.

The trial court granted BFC's motion for summary judgment and denied Rosi's motion. As to Count II of Rosi's complaint, it determined as a matter of law that the PAR was not an enforceable written contract. Rather, the court concluded, the PAR was merely an interoffice document created for the company accounting department. Moreover, the court held, the PAR was too vague and indefinite to apprise parties of all essential terms of employment. Noting that Rosi's complaint, deposition, and contentions based his contract claim exclusively on the PAR, the court concluded that the evidence did not establish a contract right to unpaid compensation. ¹ The court also dismissed with prejudice Rosi's fraud claim (Count I) in his first amended complaint, and later dismissed without prejudice a different fraud claim in his second amended complaint. On appeal, Rosi has not challenged the dismissals of Count I.

Rosi moved the trial court to reconsider its ruling. He argued that his action was

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not limited solely to a written contract theory and that the evidence showed an oral contract between the parties. BFC contended in response that Rosi had not designated any evidence for the court which would show that he was attempting to defeat BFC's motion on the basis of an oral contract. As a result, BFC argued, Trial Rule 56(H) bars Rosi from obtaining reversal of the summary judgment order on oral contract grounds.

The trial court denied Rosi's motion to reconsider. On appeal, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the grant of summary judgment. Rosi v. Business Furniture Corp. (1992), Ind.App., 601 N.E.2d 408, reh'g denied.

Revisions to T.R. 56

We grant transfer and affirm the decision of the trial court because the evidence Rosi designated in his response to BFC's summary judgment motion neither demonstrated a genuine issue of material fact nor provided any evidence proving a contractual entitlement to compensation. We agree with Judge Hoffman's dissenting opinion, and commend in particular his focus on the "designated evidentiary matter" requirement of Trial Rule 56(C). Rosi, 601 N.E.2d at 411 (Hoffman, J., dissenting).

Effective January 1991, we modified the summary judgment process through amendments to T.R. 56. No longer can parties rely without specificity on the entire assembled record--depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions--to fend off or support motions for summary judgment. It is not within a trial court's duties to search the record to...