Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Contract & Bus.) 416.46

A party who has not entered a contract to do something, but who has promised to do something, sometimes has a legal obligation to fulfill the promise, but only when specific conditions are met. This is sometimes called “promissory estoppel.” To recover damages from (defendant) for promissory estoppel, (claimant) must prove all of the following:

1. (Defendant) promised to [describe subject matter of alleged promise];

2. (Defendant) should have expected the promise to change (claimant)’s behavior;

3. In reliance on (defendant)’s promise, (claimant) changed [his] [her] [its] behavior; and

4. Injustice can be avoided only if the promise is enforced.

To “change behavior” means to do something of significance that the person otherwise would not have done, or to refrain from doing something of significance that the person otherwise would have done.

A claim of this kind must be proved by clear and convincing evidence, not just by the greater weight of the evidence. Your verdict will be for (claimant) on this claim only if you find by clear and convincing evidence each of the elements that I just described to you.