Problem: After forming a partnership with Lloyd Lyons, James Fafoutis and Lyons dissolved the partnership. Lyons told Fafoutis he was entitled to $16,000. Fafoutis sued for the $16,000 more than six years later. The law did not allow a suit to be brought that long after the obligation arose, but Fafoutis alleged that Lyons had made a promise to pay him the $16,000 if Fafoutis forbore suing for three more years.
Fafoutis argued his right to sue arose at the end of the three years. Did the promise to pay if Fafoutis did not sue constitute a valid contract on which Fafoutis could maintain a suit against Lyons?