## Facts

- Joseph Toscano worked as an at-will general manager at a piano store (Fields) in Santa Ana, California.
- In June and July 2001, Michael Greene (president of Greene Music) allegedly promised Toscano a sales management job beginning September 1, 2001.
- Toscano resigned from Fields on August 1, 2001 in reliance on the promised job.
- In mid-August 2001, Greene Music withdrew the offer.
- Toscano did not return to Fields and later worked in lower-paying piano sales jobs in California and Utah.
- Toscano sued on multiple theories; only promissory estoppel proceeded to a bench trial.
- Toscano sought damages based on wages he claimed he would have earned at Fields from September 1, 2001 through projected retirement; his expert calculated $417,772.
- The trial court awarded $536,833, including lost future earnings through retirement; Greene Music appealed the future-wage component.

## Issues

1. In promissory estoppel, may reliance damages include lost future wages from an at-will job the plaintiff quit in reliance on the defendant’s employment promise?
2. Was the award of lost earnings from September 1, 2001 through Toscano’s retirement supported by substantial evidence, or was it too speculative or remote?

## Decision

- The court held that, as a matter of law, promissory estoppel reliance damages may include lost future earnings from the prior at-will employment, if proven with reasonable certainty and not remote.
- The court vacated the portion of the judgment awarding lost future earnings from September 1, 2001 through retirement because it lacked substantial evidentiary support and was too speculative.
- The case was remanded for a retrial limited to determining the amount of those future-damages (duration and amount).
- The judgment was otherwise affirmed, including liability on promissory estoppel and non-vacated components of damages.

## Legal Principles

- Promissory estoppel generally permits reliance damages aimed at placing the plaintiff in the position the plaintiff would have occupied absent reliance on the promise.
- The at-will character of the job relinquished does not categorically bar recovery of future wage loss as reliance damages.
- Future wage-loss damages must be supported by substantial evidence and must be reasonably certain, not speculative or remote.
- A factfinder may infer continued employment for some period in an at-will setting based on evidence such as work history, employment practices, and related circumstances.
- An award premised on continued employment through retirement requires evidentiary support for both the assumed duration of continued employment and the amount of the alleged loss.

## Conclusion

The court recognized that promissory estoppel can support reliance damages for future wages lost from an at-will job quit in reliance on a promised new job, but it set aside a retirement-through award where the evidence did not reasonably support the assumed length and amount of continued employment.


Toscano v. Greene Music, 21 Cal. Rptr. 3d 732 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004)