Unjust Enrichment Law & Legal Definition
Unjust enrichment means when a person unfairly gets a benefit by chance, mistake or another's misfortune for which the one enriched has not paid or worked and morally and ethically should not keep. A person who has been unjustly enriched at the expense of another must legally return the unfairly kept money or benefits. Unjust enrichment is an equitable doctrine applied in the absence of a contract and used to prevent one person from being unjustly enriched at another's expense.
Five elements must be established to prove unjust enrichment:
- An enrichment;
- An impoverishment;
- A connection between the enrichment and the impoverishment;
- Absence of a justification for the enrichment and impoverishment; and
- An absence of a remedy provided by law.
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