Crockett & Myers, Ltd. v. Napier, Fitzgerald & Kirby, LLP

Brian Fitzgerald appeals for a second time the district court’s award to him of $33,333 in quantum meruit based on the unjust enrichment he conferred on Appellee Crockett & Myers, Ltd. (Crockett). In his first appeal, Fitzgerald argued to a previous panel of this court that the district court’s quantum meruit award was erroneous because Fitzgerald referred a major client to Crockett but the award did not account for the value of that referral. The panel agreed and remanded with instructions that the district court recalculate Fitzgerald’s quantum meruit award to include the value of the client referral apart from the value of any other services Fitzgerald performed for Crockett. On remand, the district court re-entered its original award of $33,333. We are once again asked to consider whether the district court’s $33,333 award was proper, and once again we hold that it was not.

I

The full factual history of this ease is well documented in our opinion following Fitzgerald’s first appeal, Crockett & Myers, Ltd. v. Napier, Fitzgerald & Kirby, LLP, 583 F.3d 1232 (9th Cir.2009) (Crockett I), so we do not recite it in great detail here. The case is again before this court…