Ardente v.

Horan
Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1976

Parties:
Plaintiff:
Ernest P. Ardente
Defendants:
William A. and Katherine L. Horan

Statement of Facts:
• August 1975, certain residential property was on sale by the defendants
• Plaintiff made bid for $250,000, which was communicated through the defendants
attorney.
• Defendants attorney advised Ardente that bid was acceptable and prepared a
purchase and sale agreement at the direction of the defendants and forwarded it to
plaintiff’s attorney for plaintiff’s signature
• Plaintiff’s attorney returned document with $20,000 deposit along with another
letter asking if specific furniture pieces were to be concluded.
• The defendants refused to agree to sell the enumerated items and did not sign the
purchase and sale agreement.

Procedural History:
• Trial judge ruled letter was a conditional acceptance of defendant’s offer to sell
the property and must be construed as a counteroffer.
• Since the defendants never accepted the counteroffer, no contract was formed,
summary judgment was granted.
• Plaintiff appeals.

Issue:
Was the oral agreement which preceded the drafting of the purchase and sale
agreement intended by the parties to take effective immediately to create a
binding oral contract for the sale of the property?
Was the plaintiff’s letter more reasonable interpreted as a qualified acceptance or
as an absolute acceptance together with an inquiry?

Judgment:
One who opposes summary judgment has an affirmative duty to set forth specific
facts which show that there is a genuine issue of fact to be resolved at trial. No
genuine fact was presented to the trial judge, therefore he did not error in granting
summary judgment.
Since the letter of acceptance was conditional, it operated as a rejection of the
defendant’s offer and no contractual obligation was created.

Holding:
Summary judgment must be entered against a party who fails to make a showing
sufficient to establish an essential element of that party's case.
 The general rule for acceptance of an offer is that the offeree must communicate
his acceptance to the offeror before any contractual obligation can come into
being. A mere mental intent to accept the offer, no matter how carefully formed
is not sufficient.

Reasoning: