Wheeler v. White

Wheeler (plaintiff) and White (defendant) agreed that White would obtain financing for Wheeler's planned shopping center, or provide the loan himself if he could not, in exchange for $5,000 and other consideration; the agreement omitted definite terms like installment amounts and interest. Relying on White's promise, Wheeler demolished an existing building and prepared the site for construction, but White never obtained or provided funding. Wheeler sued; the trial court found the agreement too indefinite to support contract damages and dismissed, and the court of civil appeals affirmed.

Whether promissory estoppel may be invoked to provide a remedy for detrimental reliance on a promise when the underlying agreement is not definite enough to constitute an enforceable contract.