Judge Rules ‘We’ll See’ Is a Binding Verbal Contract, Orders Parents to Buy Son a Horse

ELKINS, W.Va. — A Randolph County judge ruled Tuesday that the phrase “we’ll see” is a legally binding verbal contract and ordered Mark and Tonya Pellham to deliver one horse to their 9-year-old son, Brody, within 30 days.

Brody, who represented himself with a three-ring binder and a juice box, entered 212 exhibits into evidence, including a spiral notebook recording every “we’ll see” since August 2025, with the date and which parent was holding the car keys.

“A promise to consider is still a promise,” Judge Harlan Stipulato wrote. “The parents had 14 months to see. They saw nothing. This court has now seen for them.”

The defense argued that “we’ll see” is universally understood to mean no. Asked under oath where that was written down, Mr. Pellham said, “Everybody knows,” which the judge noted was also Brody’s entire argument for the horse.

Dorinda Loophole, a family-law paralegal who works out of a strip mall, called the ruling overdue. “Parents have issued these instruments for centuries without counsel,” she said. “‘Maybe later’ is a deferred-payment agreement. ‘Ask your father’ is a referral. ‘Because I said so’ has never once survived appeal.”

By Wednesday, attorneys had filed a class action on behalf of an estimated 40 million American children, seeking roughly 11 million puppies, 6 million trampolines and, in one Ohio filing, “the big one, not the one from the store.”

Parenting groups are urging families to switch to a flat “no,” which a pilot study found causes about 40 minutes of crying, compared with a 14-month paper trail.

Reached for comment late Wednesday, Brody’s attorney, Brody, said his client was “very happy with the horse” and would be filing next week over a separate matter his mother described in 2024 as “when you’re older.” He turns 10 in March.