Opinion ID: 681303
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Damages for Unjust Enrichment

Text: 49 East sought, and the jury awarded, damages in the amount of $439,953.25, plus interest, for unjust enrichment. That amount represented the total of East's unpaid invoices covering work performed in January and February 1987. The trial court reduced the award to $436,928.25, plus interest, on finding discrepancies in East's invoices. The trial judge instructed the jury: 50 If you find that East is entitled to recover on its claim for unjust enrichment, East is entitled to receive the amount by which you find West was unjustly enriched. 51 In determining the amount by which West was unjustly enriched, you may consider the reasonable value of the services East rendered to West. In doing so, you may consider the price of such service and materials set forth in any relevant contract, but you're not bound by those figures. It's for you to determine, based on the evidence, what the reasonable value is of the services and materials provided by East. You may find that such value was greater or less than the amounts billed by East.... 52 In determining the amount of West's enrichment, you may also consider such factors as to [sic] West had to spend money to correct or complete East's work, whether West had already paid East more than East was entitled to for its services and whether the appropriate basis for any payment is task, or time and materials, about which you heard a great deal, or some combination thereof. 53 Transcript of 10/28/92 at 34-35; and see Collins Tuttle & Co. v. Leucadia, Inc., 153 A.D.2d 526, 544 N.Y.S.2d 604 (1st Dept.1989). 54 West contends that the trial court should have granted judgment as a matter of law on East's unjust enrichment claim because East offered no evidence from which a reasonable jury could determine the value of the services East performed. West's Brief at 29. We disagree. 55 East offered as evidence invoices which contained a summary of the hours worked by each employee and their hourly rate of pay, and supplemented the invoices with time sheets. West contends that the invoices were riddled with inaccuracies and that, additionally, East offered inadequate evidence of how its invoices were prepared. See Lewis v. Barsuk, 55 A.D.2d 817, 818, 389 N.Y.S.2d 952, 953 (4th Dept.1976) (reversing judgment in contract case where plaintiff offered suppliers' invoices without proving actual payments); Answering Serv., Inc. v. Egan, 785 F.2d 1084, 1088-90 (D.C.Cir.1986) (attorneys' billing statement not presumptively accurate or reflective of the true value of services provided). 56 East's proof, however, was not limited to the invoices and time sheets. There was testimony that West made no complaint about the quality of East's work and that East's hourly rates were reasonable in relation to those of other subcontractors in New York. East also presented documentary evidence from three federal agencies that East's work was competent. Additionally, and most significantly, the accuracy of East's time records was corroborated by a West supervisor, Mitch Sherman, who had first-hand knowledge of East's work. In an internal West memorandum, Sherman is reported as concluding that Telefacs--that is, through East--did expend the hours and men to support their hourly billing. See Memorandum of April 23, 1987 from Mike Hutson to Norm Curtwright, at 2, 6. As the trial court correctly concluded, the weight to be accorded East's documents and its witnesses' testimony was within the province of the jury. See Trademark Research Corp. v. Maxwell Online, Inc., 995 F.2d 326, 335 (2d Cir.1993); Sir Speedy, Inc. v. L & P Graphics, Inc., 957 F.2d 1033, 1039-40 (2d Cir.1992). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to East, we cannot conclude that the jury's damage award was unreasonable.