Unjust Enrichment Claim Against Company Owner Based on Payments Made to Company Upheld

On April 20, 2016, the Second Department issued a decision in Shah v. Exxis, Inc., 2016 NY Slip Op. 02981, upholding an unjust enrichment claim against a company's owner based on payments made to the company.

In Shah, the plaintiff brought an action against the defendants for repayment of money allegedly loaned to the corporate defendant. The Second Department upheld the plaintiff's unjust enrichment claim against the corporate defendant's owner, explaining:

[T]he plaintiffs sufficiently pleaded causes of action alleging unjust enrichment insofar as asserted against [the individual defendant], with respect to the loan installment in the sum of $550,000, by alleging that [he] was enriched at their expense, and that it was against equity and good conscience to permit [him] to retain what is sought to be recovered.

(Internal citations omitted).