The Martin family owned a home that was badly in need of repair. Mrs. Martin worked outside the home and Mr. Martin took care of the household responsibilities and cared for the two young Martin children. One day, Mrs. Martin left for work and a home

Question

repair crew drove up and began to put aluminum siding on the Martin house. Mr. Martin telephoned his wife, told her, and inquired about whether she had hired the workers. When the Martins realized that they never had ordered this work done, Mr. Martin sneaked out the back with the children. He later met his wife at work and they returned home for dinner. By that time, the entire front of the house had been aluminum-sided. The foreman asked, "Mr. and Mrs. Wolf, how do you like the job?" The Martins replied that they loved the job, but the Wolfs lived next door. When it became clear that the repair crew had made an error, the foreman insisted that the Martins had to pay. a. Decide the case, and explain the reason(s) for your decision. b. Decide the case, assuming that the Martins were away on vacation when the improvements were made, and then returned home to discover the improvements.

Answer 1

a.

Because it was clear that the workers would be seeking payment for the work and had made an error, the Martins had the obligation to stop the work or be responsible for payment. This is a quasi-contractual obligation imposed by the law to prevent one party from being unjustly enriched at the expense of another. The Martins are obligated to pay for the reasonable value of the improvements.

b.

If the Martins were unaware of the fact that the improvements were being made, it is unlikely that a judge would order them to pay for the improvements. In this scenario, because the Martins would have had no opportunity to stop the work from being performed, the Martins would not be unjustly enriched.