Rules for claiming payment on a quantum meruit

Meaning. Quantum meruit means "as much as earned". Where one person has rendered service to another in circumstances showing that it was to be paid for, although no remuneration was fixed, the law infers a promise to pay. It covers a party injured by a breach who had done part, but not all, of the work and claims the value of the work done.

Conditions:

1. It is available only if the original contract has been discharged.
2. As a rule, the claim is brought by a party not in default; but a party who has not completed his side may still recover where the other party has accepted the benefit of part performance of a divisible contract, or where a lump-sum contract has been completely but badly performed (see the cases below). The claim is restitutory, not compensatory: it pays a reasonable value for work done, as where a buyer who ordered whisky but also received and kept brandy must pay a reasonable price for the brandy.

Cases in which the claim lies:

• where an agreement is discovered to be void, or a contract becomes void;
• where a divisible contract has been partly performed and the party not in default has had the benefit of it: if 100 bales are to be delivered in two lots and only the first 50 are delivered, the buyer must pay for 50;
• where an indivisible contract for a lump sum is completely but badly performed, the lump sum is payable less a deduction for the bad work;
• where a principal wrongfully revokes his agent's authority before the work is complete, the agent recovers for the work done and expenses incurred.

Conclusion. A party who has done work under a contract that has ended can recover a reasonable value for what he has done, usually where he is not himself in default, and also in the part-performance and defective-performance cases above.