Question 1:
In your own words, what is recovery based on Quasi-Contract? I.e. what is Quasi-Contract?
Quasi-contract includes 4 elements, which are: (1) benefit was conferred to the other party; (2) party conferring the benefit reasonably expected to be paid; (3) the benefit was not volunteered; and (4) receiving the benefit without paying for it would result in unjust enrichment.
Question 2:
Detail and discuss an example (hypothetical or from your life, no published cases) of recovery based on Quasi-Contract. You must state the 4 elements of quasi-contract word-for-word and answer whether each element is met (see example below).
Questions 3:
Explain why your example does not meet the elements (Agreement (offer & acceptance), Consideration, Contractual Capacity, & Legality) for a traditional legally binding contract?
(Note: Quasi-Contract was also discussed in Chapter 9 – see Seawest Services Ass’n v. Copenhaver, p.186-187. The contract in the Seawest case met the 4 elements of a quasi-contract as follows:
(1) benefit was conferred to the other party; - Yes, the Association provided water to the Copenhavers and the Copenhavers used the water.
(2) party conferring the benefit reasonably expected to be paid; - Yes, the Association was paid by all others for water and the Copenhavers paid the Association for the water for a number of years.
(3) the benefit was not volunteered; – Yes, the Association is and was paid by the Copenhavers and others for providing water; the Association did not volunteer the service for free.
(4) receiving the benefit without paying for it would result in unjust enrichment. – Yes, the Association provides water for a fee. It would be unjust for the Association to have expended the time and money to provide the water to the Copenhavers and for the Copenhavers to use, but not pay for, the service.
In the Seawest case, the ‘contract’ was not a traditional legally binding contract because there was no offer by the Association to supply the water to the Copenhavers for a fee, and, thus, no acceptance by the Copenhavers.)