Also known as: quasi contractual relief · quasi-contract relief · quasi-contract · restitution · unjust enrichment
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An equitable remedy that permits recovery of the reasonable value of benefits conferred on another party to prevent unjust enrichment when no enforceable contract exists between them.
Quincy Quan performed extensive customization work on a software platform for Quotient Analytics under a nonbinding letter of intent. After Quotient Analytics ended talks and launched its own system incorporating the migrated data, Quincy sought recovery of the reasonable value of the services that produced usable outputs. The court measured recovery by the concrete benefit retained rather than Quincy's full costs.
Quentin Quinn transferred funds into a joint tenancy account with his spouse while divorce proceedings were pending. After his death the surviving spouse took title by operation of law. Quentin's estate sought quasi-contractual relief to recover the contributed amounts on the ground that retention without payment would unjustly enrich the survivor.
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Queenie Quick and Quill Publishing entered a contract for the sale of land under a shared mistaken assumption about the parcel's boundaries. Once the mistake was discovered Queenie avoided the contract and sought restitution of the down payment she had made. Recovery was limited to the net benefit actually conferred on the publisher.
Quiana Quach installed landscaping improvements that benefited a neighboring servitude on land owned by Quokka Apparel. When Quokka refused payment Quiana pursued quasi-contractual relief measured by the value of the permanent enhancement retained by the servient estate.
Quintana Quest incurred substantial expenses preparing for a wedding after her fiancé promised marriage. When he later refused to proceed Quintana brought a quasi-contractual claim seeking reimbursement for the actual expenditures made in reliance on the engagement.
A client who had received private restitution from a lawyer sought to bar the lawyer's reporting obligation by claiming the payment eliminated any enrichment. The court held that the private restitution agreement did not override the lawyer's duty to report serious misconduct.
Recovery is available when a benefit has been conferred through part performance or reliance and no enforceable contract exists. The measure is limited to the reasonable value of the benefit actually retained by the recipient.
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Partial performance supports recovery only to the extent the recipient actually received and retained a measurable benefit. Work that produces no net advantage or that the recipient must substantially redo does not qualify.
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The award equals the reasonable value of the benefit conferred, which may be measured by the cost avoided by the recipient or the market value of the services at the time they were received.
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…Congress should develop an administrative or quasijudicial remedy against the government itself to afford compensation and restitution for persons whose Fourth Amendment rights have been violated. The venerable doctrine of respondeat superior in our tort law provides an entirely appropriate conceptual basis for this…