Reliance and restitution interests - Next Generation Bar Exam

1. Why is an officious intermeddler denied restitution?

   The benefit was conferred without request or justification, so retaining it is not unjust. The law will not compel payment for benefits forced on someone without a reason such as emergency.

2. When do courts ordinarily award reliance damages instead of expectation damages?

   When expectation damages are too uncertain to prove. Reliance damages are a common alternative for new ventures whose profits are speculative.

3. What are the two principal ways to measure a restitutionary benefit?

   The reasonable value of what was received, or the increase in the recipient's wealth. Courts choose the measure that is just in the circumstances, often the more generous one against a breaching party.

4. A farmer spends $5,000 preparing land under a lease that the landowner repudiates, and the farm's profits are too speculative to prove. What is the likely measure of recovery?

   The $5,000 in reliance expenditures. Reliance damages substitute for expectation when lost profits cannot be proved with reasonable certainty.

5. When is restitution unavailable to a nonbreaching party who has fully performed?

   When the only performance owed in return is payment of a definite sum of money. In that case the party is limited to recovering the agreed price.

6. What does the restitution interest protect?

   The value of the benefit the plaintiff conferred on the other party. Restitution prevents unjust enrichment rather than compensating for lost expectations.

7. What may a party recover for its performance under an oral contract that is unenforceable under the statute of frauds?

   Restitution for the value of the benefit conferred. The statute bars enforcement of the promise, not recovery of benefits conferred in reliance on it.

8. Who bears the burden of proving that the contract would have been a losing one for the plaintiff?

   The breaching party. If proved, the expected loss is deducted from the plaintiff's reliance damages.

9. What is required for restitution in the absence of an enforceable contract?

   A benefit conferred on another that it would be unjust for the recipient to keep without paying. Recovery in quasi-contract is measured by the benefit, not by any promise.

10. What is the reliance measure of contract damages?

    Expenditures in preparing for or performing the contract, less any loss the defendant proves performance would have caused. Reliance damages put the plaintiff in the position it occupied before the contract was made.

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