Court Opinion

ID: 9390039
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-26 19:00:32.693828+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:31.257800
License: Public Domain

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
                                File Name: 23a0194n.06

                                           No. 22-5581

                          UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                               FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

                                                                                 FILED
                                                                            Apr 26, 2023
                                                    )
CENTRAL JERSEY CONSTRUCTION                                            DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk
                                                    )
EQUIPMENT SALES, LLC,
                                                    )
       Plaintiff-Appellant,                         )       ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED
                                                    )       STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR
v.                                                  )       THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF
                                                    )       KENTUCKY
LBX COMPANY, LLC,                                   )
       Defendant-Appellee.                          )                                   OPINION
                                                    )

Before: STRANCH, MURPHY, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.

       MURPHY, Circuit Judge. Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales contracted with

LBX Company to become a dealer of LBX’s construction equipment. According to Central’s

complaint, LBX later asked it to open an additional facility and promised a new dealer agreement

if it obliged. Central invested in a costly expansion but never got the promised contract. LBX

instead terminated the parties’ existing agreement a few years later. Central claims that LBX’s

conduct violated a Kentucky law that requires a manufacturer to have “good cause” to terminate a

contract with a retailer. Central also raises a promissory-estoppel claim, asserting that it opened

the additional location in reliance on LBX’s unfulfilled promise of a new agreement.

       The district court properly dismissed both claims. As for its statutory claim, the parties’

existing agreement gave Central one year to file “any action” “pertaining to” the agreement. Yet

Central waited over a year before suing under the Kentucky law that required “good cause” for its
No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

termination. This statutory claim “pertains to” (that is, has a connection with) the agreement

because the claim would not exist without it. Central also gives us no reason to conclude that

Kentucky courts would refuse to enforce this contractual time limit. As for Central’s promissory-

estoppel claim, we predict that the Kentucky Supreme Court would enforce only definite promises

in promissory-estoppel cases—just as it does in contract cases. And the abstract promise of a

future “agreement” without reference to any of its terms does not suffice. We thus affirm.

                                                   I

       We must accept the well-pleaded allegations in Central’s complaint at this stage. See Rudd

v. City of Norton Shores, 977 F.3d 503, 511 (6th Cir. 2020). LBX, a company located in Kentucky,

manufactures excavators and other large construction equipment using the Link-Belt name. To

sell this equipment, it relies on authorized dealers.

       Central, a New Jersey company, became an LBX dealer in 2005.               LBX’s “Dealer

Agreement” governed their relationship. Agreement, R.38-1, PageID 354. This Dealer Agreement

allowed Central to sell LBX’s equipment in six and a half counties in central and southern New

Jersey, including Middlesex County. Id., PageID 355. The Agreement dated to a time when the

law barred a manufacturer from setting the minimum prices at which its dealers could sell its

products. So the Agreement instead prohibited Central from competing with LBX’s other dealers

outside Central’s territory. Id.; cf. Leegin Creative Leather Prods., Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., 551 U.S.

877, 903–04 (2007). The Agreement also required Central to sell LBX’s equipment under

Central’s name but to inform customers that the equipment had been “furnished by” LBX.

Agreement, R.38, PageID 361. And it required Central to place LBX signs at “all approved

facilities.” Id., PageID 357.

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

       The Agreement initially expired on August 31, 2006. Id., PageID 366. But it would

“automatically” renew “for additional one (1) year terms” if the parties took no action to end their

relationship. Id. To terminate the Agreement at the close of any annual term, a party had to give

notice at least 30 days in advance that the party did not intend to renew it. Id.

       For several years, the parties automatically renewed the Agreement and had a mutually

beneficial relationship under its terms. In late 2011, LBX asked Central to begin serving customers

“in the North Jersey market[.]” Am. Compl., R.38, PageID 347. LBX requested that Central open

another location in either Staten Island, New York (which was outside its territory) or Middlesex

County (which was inside it). Id.; see Agreement, R.38-1, PageID 355. If Central chose to open

this facility, LBX promised it a new dealership agreement.

       At first, Central opened a Staten Island facility. But this location did not succeed because

of the high costs and logistical problems on the island. At LBX’s urging, Central looked for land

to operate another facility in Middlesex County. In 2016, it found a suitable spot. Central spent

substantial sums renovating the buildings at this location, adding “LBX” signs and a “custom

designed model of an excavator” out front. Am. Compl., R.38, PageID 348.

       Throughout this time, Central kept asking LBX for a new dealership agreement that would

include an expanded North Jersey territory. LBX’s dealer development manager repeatedly

promised this new agreement, stating that the parties had a “good” relationship. Id. In March

2017, LBX executives also promised a new agreement to Central executives at a Las Vegas trade

show. Central renewed its request for the new agreement over the next several months. Yet LBX

executives did not provide one and told Central to continue “business as usual[.]” Id.

       Some two years later, the parties still did not have a new agreement. In August 2019,

moreover, LBX told Central that it would not renew the Dealer Agreement and that the Agreement

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

would expire on August 31. Central alleges that it had been performing admirably up to this time

and that LBX gave no reason for the termination. Central later learned that LBX had been

negotiating with another dealer to operate a Staten Island dealership. Central adds that it made

costly investments branding its business with LBX logos in reliance on LBX’s promise of a new

agreement that never came.

       On October 1, 2020, Central sued LBX in a New Jersey court. (LBX suggests that Central

did not sue until November 3, but the difference in dates does not matter now.) LBX removed this

suit to federal court and successfully moved to transfer it to a Kentucky district court under the

Dealer Agreement’s forum-selection clause. Central then amended its complaint to assert two

claims—one under a Kentucky law governing “retail agreement contracts” and the other for

promissory estoppel under Kentucky common law.

       The district court dismissed Central’s complaint at the motion-to-dismiss stage. See Cent.

Jersey Constr. Equip. Sales, LLC v. LBX Co., LLC, 2022 WL 2161482, at *7 (E.D. Ky. June 15,

2022). Under the Dealer Agreement’s terms, Central had one year to file any suit on a claim

“pertaining to” the Agreement. The district court held that this limit barred Central’s claim that

LBX improperly terminated the Agreement under the law governing retail agreement contracts.

Id. at *4–6. The court next held that Central did not plausibly plead a promissory-estoppel claim.

See id. at *6–7. We review its dismissal order de novo. See Ryan P. Estes, D.M.D., M.S., P.S.C.

v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 23 F.4th 695, 699 (6th Cir. 2022).

                                                 II

       Even though Central sold LBX’s equipment in New Jersey, the parties agree that Kentucky

law governed their relationship. We thus may assume the point. See Masco Corp. v. Wojcik, 795

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

F. App’x 424, 427 (6th Cir. 2019). On appeal, Central argues that the district court wrongly found

its statutory claim untimely and wrongly held that it failed to plead a promissory-estoppel claim.

                          A. Kentucky Law on Retail Agreement Contracts

        Central first asserts that the district court mistakenly applied the Dealer Agreement’s one-

year limitations period to its claim under the Kentucky law governing “retail agreement contracts.”

See Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 365.800–.840. Central sought to enforce a section of this law that bars a

manufacturer from ending “a retail agreement contract without good cause.” Id. § 365.831(1).

This section identifies several specific reasons that would give a manufacturer “good cause” to fire

a dealer, including the dealer’s dissolution, its default on a loan, or its failure to operate for a certain

time. Id. § 365.831(1)(a)–(f). The section alternatively allows the manufacturer to treat the

dealer’s violation of a contractual requirement as “good cause” so long as the manufacturer

imposes that requirement on similarly situated retailers. Id. § 365.831(1). If, however, the

manufacturer terminates the agreement due to a retailer’s breach of one of its requirements, it must

give the retailer 90 days’ notice of termination and 60 days to cure the breach. Id. § 365.831(4).

        At the outset, we highlight two issues about this Kentucky law that we do not decide on

appeal. The law’s good-cause section does not itself contain a cause of action allowing retailers

to sue. Central nevertheless argued in the district court that it may enforce the section under a

different law that provides a generic cause of action for “[a] person injured by the violation of any

statute[.]” Id. § 446.070; Hickey v. Gen. Elec. Co., 539 S.W.3d 19, 23–24 (Ky. 2018). Like the

district court, we may avoid this issue. See Cent. Jersey, 2022 WL 2161482, at *4. Next, the

Kentucky law elsewhere requires a manufacturer to repurchase a dealer’s inventory after a

termination. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 365.805, .825. Central raised a separate claim under this inventory

section. But the district court rejected the claim, and Central did not reassert it on appeal.

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

        This appeal instead turns on whether the Dealer Agreement’s one-year time limit barred

any claim that Central might have pursued under the Kentucky law’s good-cause section. The

Dealer Agreement stated: “Except for any indebtedness of [Central] to [LBX] or security related

thereto, any action by [LBX] or [Central] pertaining to this Agreement must be instituted within

one year after the accrual of the claim upon which such action is based.” Agreement, R.38-1,

PageID 364. Central admits that it did not sue over LBX’s termination within a year. But it argues

that this time limit does not apply here. Its arguments require us to answer two questions.

        Question 1: Does the Dealer Agreement cover Central’s claim under the Kentucky good-

cause section? Central initially asserts that the language of the Dealer Agreement’s limitations

period applies only to breach-of-contract actions, not to the statutory action that it seeks to litigate.

We disagree. Central’s statutory claim falls comfortably within that language.

        This question, at bottom, concerns the meaning of the Dealer Agreement. The question

thus triggers Kentucky’s common-law rules for interpreting contracts. Like most courts, Kentucky

courts start with a contract’s language. See Mostert v. Mostert Grp., LLC, 606 S.W.3d 87, 91 (Ky.

2020). They enforce a contract’s unambiguous language according to its ordinary meaning. See

Hazard Coal Corp. v. Knight, 325 S.W.3d 290, 298 (Ky. 2010). They also treat a contract’s

language as unambiguous whenever a “reasonable person” would conclude that it is susceptible to

only one interpretation. Mostert, 606 S.W.3d at 91 (quoting Ky. Shakespeare Festival, Inc. v.

Dunaway, 490 S.W.3d 691, 694–95 (Ky. 2016)).

        Here, any reasonable person would read the Dealer Agreement’s limitations period to have

a clear (and clearly broad) meaning. That contract term applies to “any action . . . pertaining to

this Agreement.” Agreement, R.38-1, PageID 364. Contrary to Central’s claim, both the adjective

“any” and the phrasal verb “pertain to” unambiguously reach more than breach-of-contract actions.

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

       As for the word “any,” courts have long recognized that it has an “expansive” reach. Ali

v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 552 U.S. 214, 219 (2008) (quoting United States v. Gonzales, 520 U.S.

1, 5 (1997)). That adjective means “indiscriminately of whatever kind or class[.]” Commonwealth

ex rel. Brown v. Stars Interactive Holdings (IOM) Ltd., 617 S.W.3d 792, 799 (Ky. 2020) (quoting

Elliott v. Pikeville Nat’l Bank & Tr. Co., 128 S.W.2d 756, 761 (Ky. 1939)); see Gonzales, 520

U.S. at 5 (quoting Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 97 (1976)) (same). The ordinary

meaning of “any action,” then, covers a suit “of whatever kind,” not just a breach-of-contract suit.

Brown, 617 S.W.3d at 799 (quoting Elliott, 128 S.W.2d at 761). Absent limiting language

elsewhere in the Dealer Agreement, that phrase reaches Central’s claim to enforce the Kentucky

law.

       As for the phrase “pertaining to,” it is similarly expansive. The phrase means “to relate to

someone or something” or “to have something to do with someone or something.” McGraw Hill’s

Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs 497 (Richard A. Spears, ed., 2004). Like its

synonym “relating to,” this phrase covers any action “connected with” the Dealer Agreement.

Webster’s New International Dictionary 1829 (2d ed. 1934); cf. Cal. Div. of Lab. Standards Enf’t

v. Dillingham Constr., N.A., Inc., 519 U.S. 316, 324 (1997).

       Central’s claim under the Kentucky law’s good-cause section has this connection. Indeed,

the claim depends on the Agreement. To show a violation of this section, a dealer (like Central)

must identify a “retail agreement contract” (like the Dealer Agreement) with a supplier (like LBX).

Ky. Rev. Stat. § 365.831(1). After all, LBX could not have terminated the Agreement “without

good cause” unless the Agreement existed. Id. And any “reasonable person” would say that a

claim relates to the Agreement if it could not exist without the Agreement. Mostert, 606 S.W.3d

at 91 (citation omitted). So the Agreement’s one-year time limit unambiguously applies here.

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

       Two caselaw-inspired analogies confirm our point. Suppose that an arbitration clause in a

contract compelled the parties to arbitrate “any claims . . . pertaining to” the contract. N. Fork

Collieries, LLC v. Hall, 322 S.W.3d 98, 104–05 (Ky. 2010). Suppose further that one party sued

the other for breaching a second contract that lacked a similar arbitration provision. See id. at 101.

Yet suppose that the two contracts were so interrelated that a court could rule for the plaintiff on

this claim only by finding that the defendant had breached the first contract. See id. at 103. An

ordinary person would say that this claim “pertains to” the first contract because it is “founded on”

that contract—even if technically asserting a breach of a related one. Id. at 105. In the same way,

the Dealer Agreement is “the foundation” for Central’s statutory claim. Id. at 104.

       Or suppose that a contract’s forum-selection clause compelled the parties to bring claims

“pertaining to” the contract in a specific venue. Worley v. Celebrate the Child. Int’l, Inc., 2016

WL 6777899, at *1 (E.D. Mo. Nov. 16, 2016). Suppose further that one party sued the other “in

tort” rather than “contract.” Id. at *3. Yet suppose that its tort claims relied on the contract by

alleging that the defendant’s tort duties sprang from its contractual duties. Id. at *4. An ordinary

person would say that the tort claims “pertain to” the contract because they are based on it. Id. In

the same way, Central’s statutory claim “undoubtedly arose from” the Dealer Agreement. Id.

       Central responds that its statutory claim is “independent” of its Agreement. Appellant’s

Br. 19. We do not see why. The Agreement is the but-for cause of the claim. See Burrage v.

United States, 571 U.S. 204, 210–11 (2014). If the Agreement did not exist, the claim could not.

Because the claim is dependent on the Agreement, it triggers its one-year limitations period.

       Question 2: Is the Dealer Agreement’s limitations period enforceable? Central next offers

three reasons why Kentucky law nonetheless bars us from enforcing the Dealer Agreement’s one-

year limitations period as against Central’s statutory claim. Each reason lacks merit.

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

       First, although the Kentucky law that Central seeks to enforce has no specific statute of

limitations, Kentucky’s general statute of limitations gives plaintiffs five years to bring “[a]n

action upon a liability created by statute, when no other time is fixed by the statute creating the

liability.” Ky. Rev. Stat. § 413.120(2). Central asserts that this statutory limitations period

automatically trumps the Agreement’s contractual limitations period. This argument has things

backwards. Kentucky courts generally permit parties to contract for a (reasonable) time limit that

is shorter than the one that would otherwise apply under a Kentucky law. See State Farm Mut.

Auto. Ins. Co. v. Riggs, 484 S.W.3d 724, 727–28 (Ky. 2016); Turner v. Cal. Ins. Co., 254 S.W.2d

481, 483 (Ky. 1953); Breathitt v. Gorman, 2018 WL 1568971, at *3 (Ky. Ct. App. Mar. 30, 2018).

       In response, Central does not try to distinguish these cases. It instead relies on federal

cases interpreting the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. See Redmon v. Sud-Chemie Inc.

Ret. Plan for Union Emps., 547 F.3d 531, 534–35 (6th Cir. 2008). This act lacks a statute of

limitations, so we have read it to adopt the most analogous state statute of limitations. See id. But

our reading of federal law says nothing about whether Kentucky courts permit contracting parties

to shorten the state statute of limitations governing a state-law claim.

       Second, the Kentucky law that Central seeks to enforce prohibits parties from “waiving”

its protections: “The provisions of [Kentucky Revised Statutes] 365.800 to 365.840 shall represent

a public policy of this Commonwealth and shall not be waivable in any retail agreement contract,

and any attempted waiver shall be void.” Ky. Rev. Stat. § 365.834. According to Central, this

section prohibits parties from waiving the five-year statute of limitations. Central misreads its

text. That text prohibits parties from waiving the protections in the Kentucky law itself (those in

§§ 365.800 through 365.840). The text does not prohibit parties from waiving provisions found

elsewhere—like the generic statute of limitations in § 413.120(2). And if Central claims that a

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

shortened statute of limitations “waives” the Kentucky law’s substantive protections in §§ 365.800

to 365.840, it is mistaken. Like an arbitration clause, a (reasonably) shortened statute of limitations

merely changes the procedure to enforce those substantive protections. It does not “waive” them.

Cf. Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 20, 26 (1991).

       Third, Central points out that Kentucky courts will not enforce contractual time limits that

are unreasonably short. See State Farm, 484 S.W.3d at 727; Webb v. Ky. Farm Bureau Ins. Co.,

577 S.W.2d 17, 19 (Ky. Ct. App. 1978). The Kentucky Supreme Court has yet to adopt a definitive

test to decide whether a contractual time limit is reasonable. Compare Croghan v. Norton

Healthcare, Inc., 613 S.W.3d 37, 43 (Ky. Ct. App. 2020), with Hale v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield

of Ky., Inc., 862 S.W.2d 905, 907 (Ky. Ct. App. 1993). But Kentucky courts generally focus on

whether the time limit leaves a would-be plaintiff enough time to discover and bring a claim. See,

e.g., Riggs, 484 S.W.3d at 727–28; Hale, 862 S.W.2d at 907. Under this test, they have often

upheld contractual one-year time limits. See Webb, 577 S.W.2d at 19; see also Wood v. State Farm

Fire and Cas. Co., 2020 WL 1898401, at *3 (Ky. Ct. App. Apr. 17, 2020); Robinette v. Venn, 2004

WL 1909456, at *2 (Ky. Ct. App. Aug. 27, 2004); Hale, 862 S.W.2d at 907.

       Here, Central offers no reasons why we should find the Dealer Agreement’s similar one-

year limit unreasonable. Central’s statutory claim concerns LBX’s termination of the Agreement.

Central allegedly learned of LBX’s decision through a letter that LBX sent a month before the

termination date. Am. Compl., Ex. B, R.38-2, PageID 372. Central thus knew of the termination

when it occurred. Id. It also knew that LBX did not identify a “good cause” for the termination,

as the good-cause section requires. Am. Compl., R.38, PageID 348; Ky. Rev. Stat. § 365.831(4).

Central’s own allegations thus suggest that it had all the information it needed to pursue its claim

within a year. For an unknown reason, however, it waited over a year to sue.

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

       Yet we need not conclusively decide the time limit’s reasonableness. On appeal, Central

argues only that the district court committed a procedural mistake. Central suggests that the court

could not enforce the Agreement’s time limit at the motion-to-dismiss stage and should have

allowed it to take discovery on this reasonableness issue. Central is correct that LBX’s timeliness

argument represents an affirmative defense. So a plaintiff need not plead facts that show that the

suit is timely. See Cataldo v. U.S. Steel Corp., 676 F.3d 542, 547 (6th Cir. 2012). But a district

court may accept a limitations defense at the pleading stage if the plaintiff pleads facts, as Central

did, that establish that the suit is untimely. Id. We have thus upheld a decision to dismiss a claim

based on a contractual time limit when the complaint’s allegations established that the limit was

reasonable. See Pike v. Gov. Emps. Ins. Co., 174 F. App’x 311, 316 (6th Cir. 2006). The

complaint’s allegations here likewise “show” that the Agreement’s one-year limit was reasonable.

Cataldo, 676 F.3d at 547. Central’s assertion that it received the deficient notice before the

Agreement expired evinces its ability to discover its claim within the prescribed one-year period.

See Riggs, 484 S.W.3d at 727–28; Hale, 862 S.W.2d at 907. Moreover, Central’s briefs in this

court and below explain neither how the limit is unreasonable nor how discovery would help

Central show that it is. Central merely claims an absolute right to discovery. It is wrong. The

district court correctly resolved the limitations issue now because Central’s complaint shows that

it had the information necessary to pursue its claim within one year and that it did not do so.

                              B. Kentucky Promissory-Estoppel Law

       Central next alleges that the district court wrongly dismissed its promissory-estoppel claim.

Like most states, Kentucky follows the approach to promissory estoppel laid out in the Restatement

of Contracts. See Sawyer v. Mills, 295 S.W.3d 79, 89 (Ky. 2009); see also Bisig v. Time Warner

Cable, Inc., 940 F.3d 205, 215 (6th Cir. 2019). This approach has four elements. A defendant

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

must have made a “promise” to a plaintiff. Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 90(1) (Am. L.

Inst. 1981). The promise must be of such a kind that the promisor would “reasonably expect” it

to “induce” the plaintiff to take (or forgo) some “action.” Id. The plaintiff must take (or forgo)

this action. Id. And a judicial refusal to enforce the promise must create an “injustice.” Id.

       The district court held that Central’s complaint failed to plausibly plead multiple elements.

See Cent. Jersey, 2022 WL 2161482, at *6–7. But we can affirm based solely on the “promise”

element. Common-law courts have long disagreed over how clear a “promise” must be to support

a promissory-estoppel claim. See 3 Corbin on Contracts § 8.11, Lexis (database updated 2022);

4 Williston on Contracts § 8:7 (4th ed.), Westlaw (database updated May 2022). This debate boils

down to the nature of promissory estoppel. Is it a narrow contract-like doctrine designed to show

that the promisor consented to be bound? Or is it a broad tort-like doctrine designed to coerce a

“careless” promisor to pay for the cost of a promisee’s reliance despite the promisor’s lack of

consent? Douglas G. Baird, Unlikely Resurrection: Richard Posner, Promissory Estoppel, and

the Death of Contract, 86 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1037, 1037–44 (2019).

       Taking the contract side, some courts (like Michigan’s) require a “‘clear and definite’

promise.” Avertest, LLC v. Livingston County, 2021 WL 3702196, at *6 (6th Cir. Aug. 20, 2021)

(quoting State Bank of Standish v. Curry, 500 N.W.2d 104, 108 (Mich. 1993)). These courts treat

the claim’s “reliance” element (that a plaintiff take or forgo an act) as a substitute for contract

law’s traditional “consideration” element. Garwood Packaging, Inc. v. Allen & Co., 378 F.3d 698,

702 (7th Cir. 2004). Just as a promisee’s “consideration” historically provided good evidence that

a promisor made a commitment, see Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., The Common Law 258–59

(1881), so too can a promisee’s detrimental change in position (its reliance) provide the same

useful evidence, see Garwood, 378 F.3d at 702. Apart from this change, these courts largely

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

incorporate contract law’s other elements into a promissory-estoppel claim. See State Bank, 500

N.W.2d at 109. So just as a contractual “offer” must be “clear, definite, and unambiguous” to

create a contract, the courts require a promise to have similar clarity to support a promissory-

estoppel claim. Michael B. Metzger & Michael J. Phillips, The Emergence of Promissory Estoppel

as an Independent Theory of Recovery, 35 Rutgers L. Rev. 472, 495–96, 538 (1983). Because this

rule provides easy-to-understand guidance on when the judiciary will enforce naked promises, it

enhances the “contractual freedom” of the negotiating parties. State Bank, 500 N.W.2d at 109.

       Taking the tort side, other courts (like Wisconsin’s) have rejected the notion that the

promise underlying a promissory-estoppel claim must be “so definite” as to equate to a contract

offer. Hoffman v. Red Owl Stores, Inc., 133 N.W.2d 267, 275 (Wis. 1965); see First Nat’l Bank

of Logansport v. Logan Mfg. Co., 577 N.E.2d 949, 954 (Ind. 1991). These courts treat promissory

estoppel as a cause of action wholly distinct from breach of contract. See Corbin, supra,

§ 8.11[III]–[IV]. They place less emphasis on maximizing the parties’ bargaining freedom and

more on remedying a promisee’s injury caused by its reasonable “reliance” on a negligent promise.

Id. § 8.11[III]. By rendering more promises potentially actionable, this murkier test focuses more

on the “injustice” element and allows for “fluidity” across cases. Hoffman, 133 N.W.2d at 275. It

thus gives courts more “discretion to do the right thing” case-by-case. Baird, supra, at 1041–42.

       As a court sitting in diversity, we must predict how the Kentucky Supreme Court would

come down on this debate. See Estes, 23 F.4th at 699. That court has a “paucity” of promissory-

estoppel decisions. Corbin, supra, § 8.12; see Sawyer, 295 S.W.3d at 89–91. But courts applying

Kentucky law have “narrowly confined” the doctrine. Davis v. Siemens Med. Sols. USA, Inc., 399

F. Supp. 2d 785, 797 (W.D. Ky. 2005); see Rivermont Inn, Inc. v. Bass Hotel & Resorts, Inc., 113

S.W.3d 636, 642–43 (Ky. Ct. App. 2003); McCarthy v. Louisville Cartage Co., Inc., 796 S.W.2d

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

10, 12 (Ky. Ct. App. 1990). One Kentucky court has described promissory estoppel as essentially

allowing a promisee’s reliance to serve as a “substitute” for the consideration that a contract

requires. McCarthy, 796 S.W.2d at 12. A well-known treatise, though noting the difficulty of

drawing “precise” lines, also numbers Kentucky among the states that take a contract-rooted view

of promissory estoppel. Corbin, supra, § 8.11 n.42. Under this contract-rooted view, we and other

courts have read Kentucky law to require a “clear, definite, and unambiguous” promise—just as a

contract offer would require. Be Well Providers, LLC v. Anthem Health Plans of Ky., Inc., 580

F. Supp. 3d 477, 488 & n.11 (W.D. Ky. 2022); see Gati v. W. Ky. Univ., 762 F. App’x 246, 254

(6th Cir. 2019); Hesco Parts Corp. LLC v. Ford Motor Co., 377 F. App’x 445, 447 (6th Cir. 2010).

       This reading of Kentucky law dooms Central’s promissory-estoppel claim. Nobody would

describe LBX’s alleged promises as “clear, definite, and unambiguous.” Be Well Providers, 580

F. Supp. 3d at 488. According to Central’s complaint, LBX promised Central that it would enter

into a “new Dealer Agreement” that included an “expanded territory” if Central opened a new

facility. Am. Compl., R.38, PageID 347, 348. But Central does not identify the terms of this

future “agreement.” How long would it last? Did it contain the one-year time limit to sue? What

was the size of the “expanded” territory? Was that territory exclusive? We do not know the

answers to any of these questions because the complaint alleges generic promises of an

“agreement” alone. But, as we said in an Ohio case, the promise of a generic future agreement

with many missing terms is not “definite enough to be enforced” using promissory estoppel. Arett

v. Gardens Alive Farms LLC, 2022 WL 1024626, at *4 (6th Cir. Apr. 6, 2022).

       The contrary conclusion would allow Central “to get around” a well-established limit in

Kentucky contract law. Sawyers, 295 S.W.3d at 90. Kentucky’s highest court has refused to

enforce a generic “agreement to agree” under Kentucky law if that agreement does not contain the

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

essential elements of the future agreement. See Walker v. Keith, 382 S.W.2d 198, 201 (Ky. 1964).

So, unlike other states, Kentucky follows an “all or nothing” approach to preliminary agreements.

Giverny Gardens, L.P. v. Columbia Hous. Partners, L.P., 147 F. App’x 443, 446 (6th Cir. 2005)

(quoting Burbach Broad. Co. of Del. v. Elkins Radio Corp., 278 F.3d 401, 409 n.7 (4th Cir. 2002)).

It treats these agreements either as enforceable contracts laying out all material terms or else as

unenforceable statements of intention that lack some of those terms. See id. at 445–50; Cinelli v.

Ward, 997 S.W.2d 474, 478 (Ky. Ct. App. 1998).

       Applying this principle here, Kentucky courts would reject the claim that LBX’s promise

of a new agreement amounted to a binding contract “offer.” That generic promise lacked the

essential elements of the deal. See Walker, 382 S.W.2d at 201. Yet we would render this contract-

law principle a dead letter if we enforced LBX’s promised “agreement” by changing the label from

“breach of contract” to “promissory estoppel.” If two parties’ actual agreement to agree is not

enforceable, why would one party’s mere promise to agree be enforceable? We predict that the

Kentucky Supreme Court would treat both an agreement to agree (for a contract claim) and a

promise to agree (for this promissory-estoppel claim) in the same way: as too indefinite. Cf. Arett,

2022 WL 1024626, at *4. Indeed, that court has already expressed hesitancy to adopt a broad view

of promissory estoppel that would eliminate other contract-law limitations, such as the statute of

frauds. See Sawyers, 295 S.W.3d at 90.

       In response, Central raises a legal argument and a factual one. Legally, Central invokes

precedent suggesting that, although “agreements to agree” may not create enforceable contracts,

they can create enforceable promissory-estoppel claims. But Central cites cases from places like

Wisconsin that take a broader view of promissory estoppel. See Hoffman, 133 N.W.2d at 275.

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No. 22-5581, Central Jersey Construction Equipment Sales v. LBX Co.

The relevant Kentucky cases signal that Kentucky “narrowly” applies the doctrine. Davis, 399

F. Supp. 2d at 797. So these out-of-state authorities do Central no good.

       Factually, Central suggests in its reply brief that LBX’s promised new agreement contained

all the same terms as its existing Dealer Agreement but with an expanded territory. Yet its

complaint lacked these factual suggestions. And Central cannot amend the complaint in a reply

brief on appeal. Cf. Bates v. Green Farms Condo. Ass’n., 958 F.3d 470, 483–84 (6th Cir. 2020).

Besides, even if LBX had proposed these alleged terms, Central then would have received what

LBX promised. It alleges that the parties renewed the same Dealer Agreement in the years after

LBX’s last alleged promise and that LBX allowed it to operate in an expanded territory despite the

Dealer Agreement’s territorial limits. In addition, the Dealer Agreement’s existing terms included

the one-year time limit on litigation that Central did not satisfy. We do not believe that the

Kentucky Supreme Court would allow Central to use promissory estoppel to sidestep both

traditional Kentucky limits on contract law and the parties’ own limits in their Agreement.

       We affirm.

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