“Agreements to Agree” May Not be Enforceable
By: Todd Reuter, K&L Gates, Spokane/Coeur D’Alene
Spokane Structures, Inc. v. Equitable Inv., LLC, 148 Idaho 616, 226 P.3d 1263 (2010)
"Agreements to agree" may not be enforceable. Here, a contractor signed a one-page document entitled “Design/Build Agreement” that provided that the contractor would “design, engineer, and draft plans in preparation of all documents/drawings required to enable the owner and contractor to agree on a final design and cost of construction to be performed.” The contractor presented a final design plan to the landowner, but the landowner decided not to follow through with the project. The contractor sued for specific performance, trying to force the owner to pay him for work.