Calculating the value of a restitutionary award in a claim for unjust enrichment

The Supreme Court judgment in Benedetti v Sawaris and others ([2013] UKSC 50) clarified the basis on which a court should evaluate the remuneration (or quantum meruit) for the value of a person's services based on the unjust enrichment of the person receiving the services.

The principle of unjust enrichment is that no person should be permitted to receive a benefit at another's detriment without paying for the reasonable value of that benefit.  The court asks itself four questions when faced with a claim for unjust enrichment:

"(1) has the defendant been enriched?

(2) was the enrichment at the claimant’s expense?

(3) was the enrichment unjust?

(4) are there any defences available to the defendant?"^1.

If the answer to each of the first three questions is 'yes', and there are no defences available to the defendant the court may make a restitutionary award.

The issue that the court had to consider in this appeal was the valuation of the restitutionary award, that is to say on what basis a claim for payment of services should be calculated.

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^1. [2013] UKSC 50, paragraph 10.