Lige Dickson Co. v. Union Oil Co. of California

Union Oil Company of California (Union Oil) (defendant) encouraged Lige Dickson Company (Lige) (plaintiff) to enter the asphalt-paving business and gave Lige an oral guarantee that it would not raise liquid-asphalt prices on Lige's existing contracts, applying any increase only to future contracts; Union Oil later raised prices on all of Lige's purchases anyway. Lige sued for its increased costs in performing existing contracts; the district court held the oral agreement unenforceable under the statute of frauds, and the Ninth Circuit certified to the Washington Supreme Court the question of whether promissory estoppel could nonetheless render such an oral promise enforceable.