Just because you are pursuing a claim for unjust enrichment does not mean you don’t have to still prove your damages with a reasonable degree of certainty. You ABSOLUTELY do:
Under Florida law, unjust enrichment damages must reflect the reasonable value of the plaintiff’s labor and costs expended for the benefit of the defendant or the value of the economic benefit that the plaintiff had conferred upon the defendant. While mathematical precision is not required, damages must be ‘measurable and quantifiable’ and supported by a ‘fact-based chain of reasoning’ so as to avoid conjecture.
Alvarez v. All Star Boxing, Inc., 50 Fla.L.Weekly D913a (Fla. 3d DCA 2025).
While Alvarez is a non-construction case, it deals with unjust enrichment which comes up in construction disputes. Here, unjust enrichment damages were awarded to the plaintiff. An appeal was taken because the defendant claimed the evidence didn’t support or link to the unjust enrichment damages that were awarded to the plaintiff. The appellate court agreed finding there was no ‘fact-based chain of reasoning” that could link the damages awarded (with relevant citations relative to damages that must be proven to support an unjust enrichment claim).
As to the latter, even assuming some connection between the services and bonus, [plaintiff] failed to quantify its contribution relative to other influencing elements. See id. at 512 (“Damages for unjust enrichment may be valued based on either (1) the market value of the services; or (2) the value of the services to the party unjustly enriched.”); Merle Wood & Assocs., Inc. v. Frazer, 307 So. 3d 773, 777 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020) (“[Appellee] himself only testified as to his anticipated profits from the transaction, but offered no testimony computing the value of the benefit conferred.”); Am. Safety Ins. Serv., Inc. v. Griggs, 959 So. 2d 322, 332-33 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007) (reversing where “plaintiffs only presented evidence of the money they hoped to receive under their profit participation agreement”).
Alvarez, supra.
Remember, if pursuing an unjust enrichment claim, you want to understand the damages and prove the damages.
Please contact David Adelstein at dadelstein@gmail.com or (954) 361-4720 if you have questions or would like more information regarding this article. You can follow David Adelstein on Twitter @DavidAdelstein1.