Opinion ID: 600262
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: threshold legal matters

Text: 9 We begin by explicating certain legal principles in order to set the stage for a discussion of the merits. 10
11 The summary judgment standard is familiar and has been frequently elucidated. Rather than attempting to reinvent so serviceable a wheel, we merely observe that, as the civil rules themselves provide, summary judgment is appropriate 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 a judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The opponent of a properly focused Rule 56 motion must demonstrate, by competent evidence, the existence of a triable issue which is both genuine and material to its claim. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Garside v. Osco Drug, Inc., 895 F.2d 46, 48 (1st Cir.1990). In this context, 'genuine' means that the evidence about the fact is such that a reasonable jury could resolve the point in favor of the nonmoving party. United States v. One Parcel of Real Property, Etc. (Great Harbor Neck), 960 F.2d 200, 204 (1st Cir.1992). In the same context, 'material' means that the fact is one susceptible of altering the outcome of the litigation. Rivera-Muriente v. Agosto-Alicea, 959 F.2d 349, 352 (1st Cir.1992). 12 We afford plenary review to the entry of a summary judgment. Garside, 895 F.2d at 48. In so doing, this court, like the courts below, must read the record in the manner most gratifying to the party opposing summary judgment, indulging all reasonable inferences in that party's favor. See Rivera-Muriente, 959 F.2d at 352; Griggs-Ryan v. Smith, 904 F.2d 112, 115 (1st Cir.1990). 13
14 In this case, the underlying contract claim depends on state law. The parties briefed and argued the case on the apparent understanding that Rhode Island law governs the significance of their actions and the interpretation of their agreements. Both lower courts adjudicated the controversy on that basis. When opposing parties agree to the source of the substantive law that controls their rights and obligations, and no jurisdictional concerns are present, a court is at liberty to accept such an agreement without independent inquiry. See Moores v. Greenberg, 834 F.2d 1105, 1107 n. 2 (1st Cir.1987); Mathewson Corp. v. Allied Marine Indus., Inc., 827 F.2d 850, 853 n. 3 (1st Cir.1987). We do so here. 15
16 The parties have expended considerable effort debating whether the November 1 letter agreement should be evaluated as an accord and satisfaction or as a novation. We deem it unnecessary to venture into this Serbonian bog. 17 The Rhode Island Supreme Court has traditionally manifested a concern with substance rather than form in this fuliginous corner of the law, hesitating to draw fine lines between these two closely allied kinds of contracts where no necessity exists for doing so. See, e.g., Mello v. Coy Real Estate Co., 103 R.I. 74, 234 A.2d 667, 671-72 (1967) (noting that dissimilarities between the two theories are frequently of no concern, as both operate to discharge all the rights and obligations emanating from a prior agreement); Salo Landscape & Constr. Co. v. Liberty Elec. Co., 119 R.I. 269, 376 A.2d 1379, 1382 (1977) (holding that, when the parties' subsequent agreement created new contractual rights and obligations which extinguished those arising under the original contract, it matters not whether a court refers to the subsequent agreement as an accord and satisfaction or as a rescission followed by the formation of a new contract); see also Masse v. Masse, 112 R.I. 599, 313 A.2d 642, 645 (1974) (stating that either a release or an accord and satisfaction of an alimony judgment will bind the parties if fully complied with and supported by sufficient consideration). Federal courts, construing state law, have often exhibited the same disinclination. For example, the Seventh Circuit, confronted with an analogous fact pattern, chose practicality over pettifoggery. See Calder v. Camp Grove State Bank, 892 F.2d 629, 633 (7th Cir.1990) (concluding that a difference in the characterization of the [agreement] does not affect the outcome of this case, since, under Illinois law releases, novations, and accords and satisfactions are all contracts subject to the requirement of mutual intent and the constraints of the parol evidence rule). 18 The lesson to be learned from all of this is that, when it would serve no useful purpose to distinguish between accord and satisfaction, on the one hand, and novation, on the other hand, courts should refrain from performing what will amount to no more than an exercise in semantics. So it is here. If the November 1 agreement constitutes a valid contract, it binds the parties in substantially the same manner whether we call it an accord and satisfaction or a novation, operating to discharge all the rights and obligations emanating from the preexisting oral agreement.