Restitution Claims in the United States
To restore to one party what was delivered to the other is called restitution. For more information on Restitituion, click here.
In Restitutionibus Benignissima Interpretatio Facienda Est Definition
The most favorable construction is to be made in restitutions.
Contract Breach Remedies: Reliance versus Restitution Interests
Note: For more information on Compensatory Damages, click here. See Consequential Damages here and Nominal Damages here. For more information on Reliance, click here. For information on Remedies, read here.
Restitution in Contract
As the word implies, restitution is a restoring to one party of what he gave to the other. Therefore, only to the extent that the injured party conferred a benefit on the other party may the injured party be awarded restitution.
If the claimant has given the other party a sum of money, there can be no dispute over the amount of the restitution interest. Tom gives Tim $100 to chop his tree into firewood. Tim repudiates. Tom’s restitution interest is $100. But serious difficulties can arise when the benefit conferred was performance. The courts have considerable discretion to award either the cost of hiring someone else to do the work that the injured party performed (generally, the market price of the service) or the value that was added to the property of the party in breach by virtue of the claimant’s performance. … If the contract is repudiated, there are two measures of Mellors’s restitution interest: …, the value by which the property was enhanced; or …, the amount it would have cost (a party) to hire someone else to do the work. Which measure to use depends on who repudiated the contract and for what reason. (1)
Resources
Notes
- “Business and the Legal Environment”, by Don Mayer, Daniel M. Warner and George J. Siedel.