Williams v. Rank & Son Buick, Inc.

Williams (plaintiff), an educated businessman shopping for an air-conditioned used car, was told by a salesman at Rank & Son Buick (defendant) that a particular car had air conditioning. Williams inspected the car and took it on an hour-and-a-half test drive, then bought it, only to discover afterward that it had no air conditioning. He sued Rank for fraud, and the trial court ruled for Williams; Rank appealed.

Whether a plaintiff may maintain a fraud claim based on detrimental reliance when the statement relied upon was obviously false.