B & W Glass v. Weather Shield Mfg.

B & W Glass (plaintiff) sold and installed windows. Weather Shield Mfg. (defendant) manufactured windows. B & W contacted Weather Shield to obtain a price quote for a new project. Robert Schwalbe, a salesman for Weather Shield, telephoned B & W and provided a price quote for the windows. B & W never received written confirmation of this oral price quotation. Relying on this quote, B & W submitted its bid to the project’s general contractor. The bid was accepted. B & W contacted Schwalbe to tell him that B & W’s bid had been approved and that B & W would purchase Weather Shield windows for the project. B & W met with Schwalbe to review the plans and specifications in detail. B & W then signed a contract with the project’s general contractor. When B & W failed to receive drawings that had been promised by Schwalbe, B & W spoke with a Weather Shield supervisor. The supervisor informed B & W that Weather Shield would not be producing the windows. B & W then obtained windows from another manufacturer for over twice the price that Schwalbe had quoted. Weather Shield refused to pay B & W the difference between Weather Shield’s quoted price and the actual cost of the windows purchased from the other manufacturer. B & W field suit in state court. Weather Shield moved the case to federal court. The trial court found that Schwalbe was an authorized agent of Weather Shield. The court also held that, despite the statue of frauds, promissory estoppel had been established and the oral agreement between B & W and Weather Shield was enforceable. The court entered judgment against Weather Shield for breach of contract. Weather Shield then appealed the case. The appeals court certified the question of the enforceability of oral contracts to the state supreme court.