Promissory Estoppel
Categories: Regulations
eBay. eSports. e...Stoppel? Is this a southern Spanish dish of flavored rice and octopus? The name of a villain in an obscure Charles Dickens novel?
Nope. It's a principal of contract law.
Your uncle says you can live in his guest house. Based on this promise, you terminate your lease and load up a U-Haul. By the time you get to your uncle's place, he's sold the property. When you finally get in touch with him, he's on a yacht in South America. "Well, sorry about that," he says, "just got a deal I couldn't turn down."
Promissory estoppel might allow you to sue. He made a promise. You counted on the promise and suffered a loss (now you're homeless and have to find a hotel room while you scramble for a new apartment...not to mention the cost of the U-Haul).
Promissory estoppel states that if you act based on a promise by another party that doesn't come through, you have the opportunity to recover damages. You will have to prove that it was reasonable to rely on the promise and that you suffered damages because you made moves based on the expectation that promised caused.
