Opinion ID: 2136101
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidence Designated by BFC and Rosi

Text: The portions of the record which Rosi specifically designated to the trial court on BFC's summary judgment motion neither create a genuine issue of material fact nor negate the contention that BFC was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In his response to BFC's motion for summary judgment, Rosi designated: (1) Rosi's deposition testimony that he believes the PAR entitles him to compensation for anticipated but not yet realized gross profit and his admission that no other written or oral agreement provides for such compensation; (2) the deposition testimony of John Ober, BFC's owner, that Rosi's predecessor was entitled to sales he had booked but not completed before leaving the company, and that Rosi and his predecessor had agreed that Rosi would complete and receive 100% of the commission from those sales; (3) Ober's testimony that Rosi was to continue on his predecessor's compensation scale, as laid out in the PAR; and (4) Rosi's testimony that he considered the PAR to be his employment contract. Plaintiff's Contentions, filed at the court's request, include no citations to the record beyond a reference to the PAR, and contain only unsupported assertions as to the existence and content of the agreement between Rosi and BFC. (Record at 849). For example, contentions 4 and 5 state: 4. The Defendant and the Plaintiff agreed that the Plaintiff would be paid a draw of $40,000 per year ... against a commission of 26% of the sales minus cost of sales of the Defendant's Floor Covering Department. 5. That agreement was reduced to writing on Exhibit A to the Plaintiff's Complaint. Id. Rosi did not designate any evidence demonstrating or even suggesting the formation of an oral contract regarding his compensation. Rosi's designated evidence showed BFC's plan for computing his compensation, but none of the specified pieces of evidence show the exchange of an offer and acceptance between the parties. [3] Portions of the record designated by BFC and Rosi on BFC's motion show Rosi believed that the PAR was his employment contract. In deposition testimony Rosi stated that the PAR was his employment agreement, and that it was the only agreement of which he was aware. Rosi believed that the PAR entitled him to compensation for anticipated sales which were completed after his termination. (Record at 615). The designated evidence demonstrates as a matter of law that the PAR is neither a contract nor even an offer to form a contract. A contract is formed by the exchange of an offer and acceptance between the contracting parties. To form a contract, one party must extend an offer, and the other party must communicate acceptance of the offer to the offeror. Bain v. Board of Trustees (1990), Ind. App., 550 N.E.2d 106. The PAR cannot be characterized as an offer from BFC to Rosi because Rosi was not given a copy and had not even seen the PAR at the time of his hiring. Rosi testified he had not seen a copy of the PAR before he filed the lawsuit. With the crucial element of communication missing, Rosi cannot rely on the PAR as a contract for compensation. BFC apparently did not generate the document as an offer, or for Rosi's use generally, but rather created it for the benefit of its accounting department. The form and content of the PAR make it look like an interoffice communication. It is a standard form containing blanks for the employee or prospective employee's biographical data, check-off boxes indicating the nature of the personnel action request (new hire, replacement hire, position change, or salary change), blanks for indicating the reason for a salary change and salary history, and, finally, a section regarding reasons for termination. (Record at 92). The blanks for salary history and reasons for salary on Rosi's PAR were completed with a handwritten explanation of the way Rosi's compensation would be computed. The trial court correctly determined that the PAR was not an enforceable contract. The court also properly confined its examination to those portions of the record designated by Rosi and BFC in accordance with T.R. 56(C). Because Rosi's specifically designated evidence fails to support an alternative theory for recovery, the court's entry of summary judgment for BFC was correct. We grant transfer and affirm the judgment of the trial court. DeBRULER, GIVAN, DICKSON and KRAHULIK, JJ., concur.