Maglica

I. Introduction

This case forces us to confront the legal doctrine known as “quantum meruit” in the context of a case about an unmarried couple who lived together and worked in a business solely owned by one of them. Quantum meruit is a Latin phrase, meaning “as much as he deserves,” and is based on the idea that someone should get paid for beneficial goods or services which he or she bestows on another.

The trial judge instructed the jury that the reasonable value of the plaintiff’s services was either the value of what it would have cost the defendant to obtain those services from someone else or the “value by which” he had “benefited [sic] as a result” of those services. The instruction allowed the jury to reach a whopping number in favor of the plaintiff—$84 million—because of the tremendous growth in the value of the business over the years.

As we explain later, the finding that the couple had no contract in the first place is itself somewhat suspect because certain jury instructions did not accurately convey the law concerning implied-in-fact contracts. However, assuming that there was indeed no contract, the quantum meruit award cannot stand. The legal test for…