## Facts

- W.H. Boone and J.T. Coe (plaintiffs) in Kentucky entered into a verbal agreement with J.F. Coe (defendant) for a lease of defendant’s Texas farm for one year, the term to begin when plaintiffs arrived at the farm.   
- Defendant promised to have a house ready for plaintiffs to live in, to furnish supplies or a grain barn, and to allow plaintiffs to cultivate designated portions of the farm and share in the crops.   
- Relying on this oral agreement, plaintiffs left their home and business in Kentucky, traveled approximately 55 days with their families and belongings to Texas, and incurred substantial travel and relocation expenses and lost time/wages.   
- On arrival, the promised dwelling was not fit for occupancy, the barn/supplies were not provided, and defendant refused to let plaintiffs occupy the house or cultivate the land.   
- Plaintiffs sued in Kentucky seeking damages for expenses and time lost in traveling from Kentucky to Texas and for losses from giving up their home and business in Kentucky.   
- The trial court sustained defendant’s demurrer, holding the oral agreement fell within the Statute of Frauds as a lease of land for a term not to begin until a future date and therefore was unenforceable; judgment was entered for defendant, and plaintiffs appealed.   

## Issues

1. May plaintiffs recover expenses incurred and time lost in reliance on an oral lease of land for one year to commence in the future when the agreement is unenforceable under the Statute of Frauds?   
2. When an oral contract within the Statute of Frauds is unenforceable and the defendant has received no benefit from the plaintiff’s performance or preparations, can restitution or reliance damages nonetheless be awarded?   

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Kentucky affirmed the judgment for the defendant.   
- The court held that the oral lease, being for land for one year to begin at a future date, fell within the Statute of Frauds and was unenforceable absent a writing.   
- Because the contract was unenforceable and the defendant received no benefit from plaintiffs’ move or expenditures, plaintiffs could not recover their moving expenses, lost time, or other reliance damages.   
- The court expressly rejected and overruled prior precedent (McDaniel v. Hutcherson) that had allowed similar recovery, emphasizing that allowing such damages would undermine the Statute of Frauds.   

## Legal Principles

- **Statute of Frauds – interests in land and one-year provision:** A contract for the sale or lease of real estate for longer than one year, or a one-year lease set to commence at a future date, must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged; an oral lease for one year to begin in the future falls within the Statute of Frauds and is unenforceable.   
- **No recovery of expectation or reliance damages on unenforceable contracts:** Where an agreement is unenforceable under the Statute of Frauds, courts will not award expectation or reliance damages if doing so would effectively enforce the oral contract that the statute declares unenforceable.   
- **Restitution limited to benefits conferred:** Restitutionary recovery requires that the defendant be enriched by receiving a benefit from the plaintiff; if the defendant receives no benefit (as where plaintiffs only incur their own moving expenses and lost time), no quasi-contractual obligation to pay arises.   
- **Policy behind the Statute of Frauds:** The statute is a “valuable statute,” and its purposes would be defeated if plaintiffs could circumvent it by recovering reliance-type damages whenever an oral agreement within its scope is breached.   

## Conclusion

Boone v. Coe holds that an oral agreement for a one-year farm lease to begin in the future is unenforceable under the Statute of Frauds and that tenants who relied on such an agreement by moving and incurring expenses cannot recover expectation or reliance damages when the landowner received no benefit, because such recovery would indirectly enforce the barred oral contract.


Boone v. Coe, 154 S.W. 900 (Ky. Ct. App. 1913)