| Court: | Supreme Court of California |
| Facts: | Lawyer makes an unreasonably cheap contract to represent a problem client in a divorce ($750). He gets fired just before the case is complete, and is paid only partially. Sues for the value of his services. |
| Posture: | Initial judgment gets him nothing. |
| Issue: | Is this a suit in quantum meruit, or a quasi contract? Basically, what should a seller recover when an apparently disadvantageous contract is breached by the buyer? |
| Holding: | He can get the balance of the contract price |
| Rule: | If the contract is complete, then the plaintiff is owed only the fees for which he/she contracted. |
| Reasoning: | The degree of completion is important here. Otherwise, there's the question of opportunity costs: the effort spent performing on the contract might have been put to use elsewhere, and sold for fair market value. |
| Dicta: | |