Weitz Company, LLC v. Hands, Inc.

Facts

In 2011, the Good Samaritan invited Weitz and other general contractors to bid on a proposed nursing facility. Weitz was looking for a subcontractor. On bid day, H & S sent Weitz a bid for the plumbing and HVAC parts of the project. The head of Weitz told the head of H & S’ engineering department that Weitz had won the bidding and had carried the H & S number. He said that the told H & S that “we used its number in our bid, and we were prepared to enter into a contract with H & S and move forward.” Weitz signed a contract with Good Samaritan for the base bid of $9.2 million. However, Weitz and H & S could not come to terms. The magnitude of H & S’ error kept growing and eventually ballooned to more than $430,000. In October, Weitz informed H & S that it would other subcontractors. Weitz did not try to withdraw its bid from Good Samaritan because of its dispute with H & S. Instead, it completed the project with other plumbing and HVAC subcontractors. Weitz argued that promissory estoppel bound H & S to its bid because Weitz reasonably and foreseeably relied on its bid.