AJ 025 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Quasi-Contract

• School: College of The Sequoias
• Department: Administration of Justice (AJ)
• Course: AJ 025
• Professor: shirk

Document Summary

Quasi contracts: an obligation or contract imposed by law (a court), in the absence of an agreement, to prevent the unjust enrichment of one party. Not actual contracts (did not arise from an agreement between the parties themselves. Fictional contracts that courts can impose on the parties as if the parties had entered into the agreement. Doctrine of unjust enrichment: based on the theory that individuals should not be allowed to profit or enrich themselves inequitably at the expense of others. Plaintiff may recover in quantum meruit (the extent of compensation owed under a quasi- contract) Party who has conferred a benefit on someone else"s unnecessarily or as a result of misconduct or negligence cannot invoke the doctrine of quasi contract. Quasi contract cannot be used when an actual contract covers the area in controversy. Remedy already exists if a party is unjustly enriched because another party fails to perform. Nonbreaching party can sue for breach of contract.