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Contract Formation: Master’s Decision Overturned – Court Grants Judgment For Claim On The Basis Of Quantum Meruit

Demir v. Kilic 2018 Ont SCJ

The Master held, on a reference, that there was a cost plus contract, but that the construction manager failed to prove that a management fee was a term of the contract. The Master therefore ordered damages based on cost only with no management fee. Since she decided that there was a contract, she did not deal with the manager’s claim for quantum meruit. The referring judge overturned the decision and allowed the full claim of the manager on the basis of quantum meruit. He held that there was no contract, based on the Master’s own findings that there was no meeting of the minds of the fundamental terms of the contract, including its scope, its price, the price of labour, the selection of materials, and the payment of the manager’s own work. Since there was no contract, the owner was unjustly enriched, receiving the benefit of the hours of the manager’s work without payment.

Written by Jonathan Speigel, the founding partner of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, leads the litigation and construction practices.