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estoppel

estoppel definition - legal

A doctrine that holds, under certain circumstances, that a claim or assertion cannot be made if it contravenes a prior claim or assertion of the same party, or if it contradicts the factual holding of a court whose decision is not directly binding on the parties.

collateral estoppel

Estoppel created by the findings of another court upon the same facts, even though the other proceeding did not involve all of the same parties or was otherwise not directly binding on the current court.

equitable estoppel

At equity, the doctrine that a party who has caused another harm in reliance on the partyÂ’s promise or statement, may be barred from taking certain actions to escape liability for such harm.

estoppel by silence

An estoppel created by the failure to speak of a party who had an obligation to do so.

promissory estoppel

A doctrine that prevents a party from pleading lack of consideration as an affirmative defense, if that party made a statement upon which the other party foreseeably relied to his or her detriment.