Monetti, S.P.A. v. Anchor Hocking Corp.

Anchor Hocking Corp. (defendant) agreed in principle to become Monetti S.P.A.'s (plaintiff) exclusive U.S. distributor for ten years; although Anchor never signed Monetti's draft agreement, an Anchor employee drafted and initialed an internal memo incorporating all of the draft's terms plus additional terms Anchor wanted, and a second internal Anchor memo, referred to internally as a 'summary agreement,' restated nearly all the draft's terms on Anchor letterhead. Monetti, as its draft required, transferred all the assets of its distributing subsidiary Melform to Anchor. When Monetti sued for breach of contract, Anchor argued the statute of frauds barred the suit because there was no signed writing and the deal couldn't be performed within a year; the trial court agreed, and Monetti appealed.