noting that the doctrine of equitable estoppel “provides that a person may not deny the existence of a state of facts if he intentionally led another to believe a particular circumstance to be true and to rely upon such a belief to his detriment”
How later courts described this case
- noting that the doctrine of equitable estoppel “provides that a person may not deny the existence of a state of facts if he intentionally led another to believe a particular circumstance to be true and to rely upon such a belief to his detriment”
- California Supreme Court did not reach the issue
- no 4 || estoppel where “[t]here [was] no evidence that any county official in authority was aware” 5 || of the underlying facts”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
While I agree with the conclusion of the majority that the county should not be estopped in the circumstances of this case, I reach that result on the sole ground that the developer had knowledge of the invalidity of his permit prior to seeking the approvals in question. To the extent that the majority rest their holding upon the county's asserted lack of actual knowledge of the invalidity of the permit, I must respectfully express my disagreement with their reasoning. In my view the county, having issued the permit, cannot be heard to maintain that it had no knowledge of its expiration date. Accordingly, the state of its actual knowledge can have no relevance to the matter of estoppel. With this limitation, I concur in the majority opinion. *Page 729