MBE Rules · Remedies
Restitutionary Recovery
Cal. Civ. Code § 3407
The rule
Restitution measures recovery by the defendant's unjust enrichment rather than the plaintiff's loss. Available where the defendant has been unjustly enriched at the plaintiff's expense, whether through breach of contract, tort, mistake, or wrongful acquisition. May be sought at law (quasi-contract) or in equity (constructive trust, equitable lien).
In plain English
Restitutionary recovery focuses on how much the defendant has gained unfairly at the expense of the plaintiff, rather than what the plaintiff has lost. This remedy is available when the defendant has been unjustly enriched, regardless of whether the situation arose from a breach of contract, tort, mistake, or wrongful acquisition.
Worked example
A contractor mistakenly builds a garage on the wrong property and the homeowner benefits from the garage without paying for it. The contractor can seek restitution for the value of the benefit conferred to the homeowner. The court awards the contractor restitution for the unjust enrichment.
Memory hook
Restitution: it's about the defendant's gain, not the plaintiff's pain.
The trap
Exams may present scenarios where students confuse restitution with compensatory damages, leading them to focus on the plaintiff's losses instead of the defendant's gains.
How examiners test it
Questions often involve fact patterns where a benefit has been conferred to a defendant under mistaken circumstances, prompting candidates to analyze the unjust enrichment aspect.
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