ESTOPPEL
A legal principle that bars a party from denying or alleging a certain fact owing to that party’s previous conduct, allegation, or denial.
The rationale behind estoppel is to prevent injustice owing to inconsistency or FRAUD.
There are two general types of estoppel: equitable and legal.
Equitable Estoppel
EQUITABLE ESTOPPEL, sometimes known as estoppel in pais, protects one party from being harmed by another party’s voluntary conduct.
Voluntary conduct may be an action, silence,
ACQUIESCENCE, or concealment of material
facts. One example of equitable estoppel due to
a party’s acquiescence is found in Lambertini v.
Lambertini, 655 So. 2d 142 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct.App.
1995). In the late 1950s, Olga, who was married
to another man, and Frank Lambertini met and
began living together in Argentina. Olga and
Frank hired an attorney in Buenos Aires, who
purported to DIVORCE Olga from her first hus-
band and marry her to Frank pursuant to Mexi-
can law. The Lambertinis began what they
thought was a married life together, and soon
produced two children. In 1968, they moved to
the United States and became Florida residents.
In 1992, Olga sought a divorce from Frank.
She petitioned the Florida court for sole posses-
sion of the marital home and temporary
ALIMONY, which the court granted. Frank sought
a rehearing, arguing that the Mexican marriage
was not a valid legal marriage and was therefore
void. Though Frank won with this argument in
the trial court, the appellate court reversed, hold-
ing that Frank was equitably estopped from
arguing that the Mexican marriage was invalid.
According to the appellate court, Frank and Olga
had held themselves out as a married couple for
more than 30 years, lived together, raised two
children, and owned property jointly. Both Frank
and Olga apparently believed all along that the
Mexican marriage was legal, and it was only
when Olga filed for divorce that Frank discov-
ered and chose to rely on its invalidity. The
appellate court granted Olga her divorce, the
house, and the temporary alimony. Frank’s
acquiescence for three decades—holding himself
out as being married to Olga—prevented him
from denying the marriage’s existence.
There are several specific types of equitable
estoppel. Promissory estoppel is a contract law
doctrine. It occurs when a party reasonably
relies on the promise of another party, and
because of the reliance is injured or damaged.
For example, suppose a restaurant agrees to pay
a bakery to make 50 pies. The bakery has only
two employees. It takes them two days to make
the pies, and they are unable to bake or sell any-
thing else during that time. Then, the restaurant
decides not to buy the pies, leaving the bakery
with many more pies than it can sell and a loss
of profit from the time spent baking them. A
court will likely apply the PROMISSORY ESTOP-
PEL doctrine and require the restaurant to fulfill
