Hennepin County District Court awards of law school costs upheld.

Byline: Michelle Lore

A wealthy philanthropist's broken promise to finance a woman's legal education has led to a court ruling upholding an $87,000 judgment against him.

Walter Fields encouraged his then-friend, Marjorie Conrad, to attend law school. At the time, she had a good job with Qwest, which was helping her pay off some past bill and was reluctant to take on the financial commitment of going to law school. Fields offered to pay for Conrad's legal education, and she agreed, quitting her job and enrolling at Hamline University School of Law. (She later transferred to William Mitchell College of Law, completing her legal education there.)

Five years later, Fields still had not fulfilled his promise. Mired in debt, Conrad brought suit against her would-be benefactor. After a daylong trial in which Fields represented himself, a Hennepin County District Court judge ruled in Conrad's favor, awarding her what she spent on tuition and books based on a promissory-estoppel theory.

Last week, in Conrad v. Fields, the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the judgment.

St. Paul attorney Michael B. Padden, who represents Conrad, told Minnesota Lawyer that attorneys sometimes forget that promissory estoppel is a good tool for enforcing these kinds of agreements.

"We met all the elements of the claim," he said. "There was significant detrimental reliance here. [My client] can honestly say that she wouldn't have gone to law school absent this promise."