Plaintiff Survives Summary Judgment on Quantum Meruit Claims Relating to Chinese Arena Football

On May 23, 2018, Justice Kornreich of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Yun Capital, LLC v. Judge, 2018 NY Slip Op. 31009(U), allowing quantum meruit claims relating to a Chinese arena football league to go forward to trial, explaining:

Alternatively, plaintiff is entitled to proceed with its quantum meruit claim. That the parties previously entered into the Letter Agreement does not bar plaintiffs quantum meruit claim. The scope of services governed by the Letter Agreement (raising capital) is different from those governed by the alleged oral agreement (Yun serving as CEO and plaintiffs 16,000 hours of work running the company). Defendants do not cite authority for the proposition that the existence of a prior written agreement governing a different subject matter bars a claim in quasi contract for different work. If the finder of fact concludes that there was no oral agreement, plaintiff may seek to prove the value of its work and recover accordingly. That said, since defendants dispute the scope and reasonableness of the invoiced work, plaintiff is not entitled to summary judgment on this claim.

(Internal citations omitted).

Quantum meruit is a claim to recover for work that was not done pursuant to a contract. Contact Schlam Stone & Dolan partner John Lundin at jlundin@schlamstone.com if you or a client face a situation where there is a dispute over payment for work that was not covered by a contract.