Interstate Co. v. Bry-Block Mercantile Co.
District Court, W.D. Tennessee · 1928-05-30 · cited 13×
The case involved a dispute between Interstate Co., a restaurant operator, and Bry-Block Mercantile Co., a department store owner, over an alleged oral agreement for a five-year lease (with renewal option) of space previously occupied by another cafeteria inside the store. After negotiations, the plaintiff purchased specialized equipment and renovated the premises at significant cost in reliance on the defendant's president's representations that the written lease would be signed and that the parties should proceed as if it were already in effect; however, the lease was never executed, and the new president later sought to evict the plaintiff, citing the statute of frauds. The plaintiff sued for injunctive relief based on equitable estoppel to enforce the lease or compel its execution. The court denied the defendant's motion to dismiss for legal insufficiency and granted a temporary injunction, holding that the defendant's conduct inducing reliance could give rise to an estoppel preventing assertion of the statute of frauds defense under Tennessee law, which permits equitable remedies to avoid fraud even where partial performance alone does not suffice.
