Opinion ID: 719608
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Contract and Quantum Meruit Principles

Text: 122 Several general principles of contract law provide the substantive framework for our discussion. Under New York law, which the parties do not dispute is controlling in this diversity case, the question of whether or not a binding contract exists is not dependent on the subjective intent of either party. Brown Bros. Electrical Contractors, Inc. v. Beam Construction Corp., 41 N.Y.2d 397, 399, 393 N.Y.S.2d 350, 351, 361 N.E.2d 999 (1977). Instead, [w]hat matters are the parties' expressed intentions, the words and deeds which constitute objective signs in a given set of circumstances. R.G. Group, Inc. v. Horn & Hardart Co., 751 F.2d 69, 74 (2d Cir.1984). The analysis must not put disproportionate emphasis ... on any single act, phrase or other expression, but, instead, [should consider] the totality of all of these, given the attendant circumstances, the situation of the parties, and the objectives they were striving to attain. Brown Bros. Electrical Contractors, Inc. v. Beam Construction Corp., 41 N.Y.2d at 399-400, 393 N.Y.S.2d at 352, 361 N.E.2d 999. 123 In general, under New York law no enforceable contract comes into being when the parties leave a material term for future negotiations, creating a mere agreement to agree. Joseph Martin, Jr., Delicatessen, Inc. v. Schumacher, 52 N.Y.2d 105, 109, 436 N.Y.S.2d 247, 249, 417 N.E.2d 541 (1981). However, an enforceable contract may be created if the parties agree that a contract term, such as price, is to be set by reference to prevailing industry standards. See, e.g., Cobble Hill Nursing Home, Inc. v. Henry & Warren Corp., 74 N.Y.2d 475, 483, 548 N.Y.S.2d 920, 923, 548 N.E.2d 203 (1989) (parties can agree that price will be set according to commercial practice or trade usage), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 816, 111 S.Ct. 58, 112 L.Ed.2d 33 (1990). Further, in an appropriate case, a provision for the later fixing of a reasonable price may be sufficiently definite, in light of industry standards, to make the contract enforceable. See, e.g., Catlin v. Manilow, 170 A.D.2d 357, 357, 566 N.Y.S.2d 59, 59-60 (1st Dep't 1991); cf. Joseph Martin, Jr., Delicatessen, Inc. v. Schumacher, 52 N.Y.2d at 111, 436 N.Y.S.2d at 250, 417 N.E.2d 541. In addition, even an agreement whose price term is to be set by reference to a valuation  '[to be] jointly agreed upon,'  Chase National Bank of the City of New York v. Manufacturers Trust Co., 265 A.D. 406, 407, 39 N.Y.S.2d 370, 372 (1st Dep't 1943) (quoting contract), which might otherwise be unenforceable, may become enforceable after a valuation has been stated, the contract has been partly performed in that respect, and there remains no uncertainty about what the parties meant, see id. at 410, 39 N.Y.S.2d at 374. 124 If the plaintiff fails to prove a valid contract, the court may nonetheless allow recovery in quantum meruit to assure a just and equitable result, Bradkin v. Leverton, 26 N.Y.2d 192, 196, 309 N.Y.S.2d 192, 195, 257 N.E.2d 643 (1970), where the defendant received a benefit from the plaintiff's services under circumstances which, in justice, preclude him from denying an obligation to pay for them, id. at 197, 309 N.Y.S.2d at 196, 257 N.E.2d 643. Such a recovery for unjust enrichment is permissible when and because the acts of the parties or others have placed in the possession of one person money, or its equivalent, under such circumstances that in equity and good conscience he ought not to retain it, and which ex aequo et bono belongs to another. Miller v. Schloss, 218 N.Y. 400, 407, 113 N.E. 337, 339 (1916). 125 Where the complaint asserts claims on theories of both contract and quantum meruit and there is a genuine dispute as to the existence of a contract, the plaintiff need not make a pretrial election between these theories; he is entitled to have the case submitted to the jury on both theories. See, e.g., Joseph Sternberg, Inc. v. Walber 36th Street Associates, 187 A.D.2d 225, 228, 594 N.Y.S.2d 144, 146 (1st Dep't 1993).