No Contract: You Might Still Deserve to be Paid

The absence of a contract does not preclude recovery under quantum meruit because quantum meruit does not require the existence of a contract. Actions lie in common counts even when the services were rendered under an unenforceable contract.

The recovery for quantum meruit is the reasonable value of the services rendered. A person who has been unjustly enriched at the expense of another is required to make restitution to the other. The law independently imposes restitution and compensation regardless of express contract. Unjust enrichment is a remedy available for benefits one unjustly obtains including through fraud.

One form of common count is a common count for work or labor done and that form of common count is known as quantum meruit. Another form of common count is for fraud and when a common count is based upon fraud, the fraud does not need to be alleged with specificity. Because quantum meruit was recognized as an action at law in 1950, there is a right to jury.

Quantum meruit does not depend on an implied contract, and is not a legal theory rooted in quasi-contract. However, quantum meruit is also appropriate when a plaintiff, working under an express contract, performs additional work, at defendant's request that is not specific in the contract.