California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Cox v. Cnty. of San Bernardino, E055169 (Cal. App. 2013):
"'The essence of an estoppel is that one has, by false statements or conduct, led another to do that which he would not otherwise have done and as a result the other has suffered injury. [Citation.] The elements of an estoppel claim are: "(1) the party to be estopped must be apprised of the facts; (2) he must intend that his conduct shall be acted upon, or must so act that the party asserting the estoppel had a right to believe it was so intended; (3) the other party must be ignorant of the true state of facts; and (4) he must rely upon the conduct to his injury." [Citation.] Where the defendant is a government entity, a fifth element requires that the injury to the plaintiff's personal interest if the government is not estopped outweighs the injury to the public interest if the government is estopped. [Citation.]' [Citation.] Moreover, simple reliance on a false statement or conduct is not enough. In order to invoke the doctrine of equitable estoppel, the reliance must be reasonable. [Citation.]" (Brown v. Chiang (2011) 198 Cal.App.4th 1203, 1227.)
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