Case Name: Sam Flanel, Appellant, v. Darrell Flanel, Respondent
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1989-07-03
Citations: 152 A.D.2d 536
Docket Number: 
Parties: Sam Flanel, Appellant, v Darrell Flanel, Respondent.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 152
Pages: 536–537

Head Matter:
Sam Flanel, Appellant, v Darrell Flanel, Respondent.

Opinion:
—In an action, inter alia, to enforce an alleged loan agreement, the plaintiff appeals from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (O'Shaughnessy, J.), dated March 7, 1988, as granted the defendant's motion for partial summary judgment.
Ordered that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.
The plaintiff brought this action to recover from the defendant, his son, the amounts expended by him for the defendant's college education. It is the plaintiff's position that the defendant had agreed to repay him. This alleged agreement was not in writing, and the plaintiff relied primarily on letters in which the defendant had acknowledged an obligation to repay him. However, it is apparent from the plaintiffs deposition testimony that, if such an oral promise was made, it was no more than an agreement to agree since the terms of repayment were to be "worked out in the future depending upon circumstances". Where an essential element of a contract is left for future negotiations, there is no enforceable contract (see, Martin Delicatessen v Schumacher, 52 NY2d 105; Willmott v Giarraputo, 5 NY2d 250; see also, Azoulay v Cassin, 128 AD2d 660; Cosomolite Mfg. Co. v Theodus, 122 AD2d 246). The court properly granted the defendant partial summary judgment dismissing so much of the complaint as was based on the alleged loan agreement. Bracken, J. P., Rubin, Spatt and Sullivan, JJ., concur.