{"id":904748,"date":"2025-09-02T16:30:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T22:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=904748"},"modified":"2025-09-02T16:30:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T22:30:21","slug":"quantum-meruit-unjust-enrichment-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/quantum-meruit-unjust-enrichment-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Exhaustion of Remedies: Owner Defeats Subcontractor\u2019s Unjust Enrichment Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>John Mark Goodman | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildsmartbradley.com\/2025\/08\/exhaustion-of-remedies-owner-defeats-subcontractors-unjust-enrichment-claim\/?utm_source=Bradley+Arant+Boult+Cummings+LLP+-+BuildSmart&amp;utm_campaign=71f170c633-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_b504caf31b-71f170c633-78863422\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">BuildSmart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A federal judge in Oregon has tossed a subcontractor\u2019s unjust enrichment or \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/quantum-meruit-award-in-home-construction-dispute\/\">quantum meruit<\/a>\u201d claim against the owner because the subcontractor did not first exhaust its contractual remedies against the contractor.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Exhaustion of remedies is a common legal doctrine that generally requires parties to pursue relief in a particular order.&nbsp;In dealing with appeals from a government agency, for example, parties must first avail themselves of the agency\u2019s internal or administrative appeals process before seeking relief in court. Parties who do not exhaust their administrative appeals may be thrown out of court if they try to skip ahead. Some jurisdictions, like Oregon, apply this concept in the construction setting to bar a subcontractor\u2019s non-contractual claims if contractual claims remain viable (see&nbsp;<em>Shoestring Valley Holdings v. Exp US Services Inc.<\/em>, et al, Case No. 3:25-cv-974-SI, 2025 WL 2336496 (D. Or. Aug. 13, 2025)). &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<em>Shoestring<\/em>, the subcontractor had simultaneously filed suit against both the contractor and the owner. The owner moved to dismiss the subcontractor\u2019s quantum meruit claim arguing that the subcontractor had not first exhausted its contractual remedies against the contractor. The court agreed, holding that it was not sufficient to merely allege exhaustion. Rather, the court held that exhaustion of remedies against the contractor must be \u201calleged and proved\u201d \u201cbefore a subcontractor with no contractual relationship with a property owner can bring a claim for unjust enrichment against the owner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider this next time you are contemplating, pursuing, or defending non-contractual claims against an owner or similarly situated party. While we often focus on the lack of contractual privity defense, exhaustion of remedies may also be a viable defense depending on the law in your jurisdiction (which can vary greatly from state to state).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Republished with permission. The article, \u201cExhaustion of Remedies: Owner Defeats Subcontractor\u2019s Unjust Enrichment Claim\u201d was originally published on BuildSmart by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. Copyright 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Mark Goodman | BuildSmart A federal judge in Oregon has tossed a subcontractor\u2019s unjust enrichment or \u201cquantum meruit\u201d claim against the owner because the subcontractor did not first exhaust its contractual remedies against the contractor.\u00a0 Exhaustion of remedies is a common legal doctrine that generally requires parties to pursue relief in a particular order.&nbsp;In&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/quantum-meruit-unjust-enrichment-claim\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Exhaustion of Remedies: Owner Defeats Subcontractor\u2019s Unjust Enrichment Claim<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[172],"tags":[9895,224,320,325],"class_list":["post-904748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-law-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-contract","tag-oregon","tag-quantum-meruit","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Exhaustion of Remedies: Owner Defeats Subcontractor\u2019s Unjust Enrichment Claim - Advise &amp; 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