Distinguishing Quantum Meruit and Unjust Enrichment in the Construction Setting

In construction cases, there is often confusion between the legal theories of “quantum meruit” and “unjust enrichment.” These are used when someone didn’t fulfill a contract but still wants to be paid. Sometimes both are mistakenly used in a lawsuit, and sometimes the wrong one is chosen. Quantum meruit and unjust enrichment have the same goal, but they have different legal elements. Quantum meruit is a way to get paid for services you provided, even if there wasn’t a written contract. You can use it when the other party knew you expected to be paid and benefited from your work. The amount you can recover is based on what you would be paid in the open market for the same work. Unjust enrichment is when someone benefits at another person’s expense without paying for it, and it’s not fair. To prove unjust enrichment, you need to show that there’s no other way to get what’s fair, that the defendant got a benefit from the plaintiff and knew about it, and that it’s not right for them to keep the benefit without paying for it. It can be tricky to prove, especially the part about there being no other way to make things right. For example, if a subcontractor doesn’t follow all the rules to get paid for their work, they might be able to use unjust enrichment to argue that it’s not fair for the owner to keep the benefit without paying them. The Rite-way and Pinewood Plumbing cases involved disputes over payment for construction work. In the Pinewood case, the court said a subcontractor didn’t follow the right procedure to get paid and couldn’t claim unfair enrichment. In the Rite-way case, the court said a supplier who wasn’t directly involved in the contract could still claim unfair enrichment. This makes it hard for legal experts to agree on when a claim for unfair enrichment is allowed. In another case, a subcontractor couldn’t claim unfair enrichment from the property owner until they finished resolving their payment dispute with the contractor. If someone owes you money but they don’t have enough money to pay you, it can be hard to get paid. It’s easier to prove this if the company is out of business or in bankruptcy, but if they are still in business, it’s harder. You have to show evidence that they probably won’t be able to pay you. You also have to show that they got something valuable from you. This is different from just showing the value of the work you did. Sometimes they might be the same, but sometimes they are different. In one case, a contractor did work for a landlord and was able to prove they benefited from it. In another case, a contractor couldn’t prove the landlord benefited, so they couldn’t get paid. It’s important for both sides to really think about whether the work actually helped the landlord before going to court. If someone gets something good from someone else without paying for it, that might be considered unjust. For example, if a homeowner lets a contractor work on their property knowing the contractor won’t be able to pay their workers, that’s not fair to the workers. But if the homeowner already paid the contractor and the contractor didn’t pay the workers, it’s not the homeowner’s fault. It’s important to look at who paid for what and who got the benefit when deciding if something is unjust. In simple terms, pleading a claim for relief under unjust enrichment and quantum meruit are different and can’t be used interchangeably. They have different historical roots and are based on different legal principles. It’s important for a lawyer to carefully analyze each case before choosing which remedy to use. Florida law provides protection for subcontractors and suppliers in public construction projects so they can get paid for their work. In some cases, a contractor may not be able to get paid from both a landlord and a tenant for the same job. There have been court cases where a landlord was not responsible for paying a contractor because the contractor should look to the tenant for payment instead. This information was provided by a lawyer who focuses on commercial and construction law.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/distinguishing-quantum-meruit-and-unjust-enrichment-in-the-construction-setting/