Kwickie/Flash Foods v. Lakeside Petroleum
Decision Date | 08 November 2000 |
Docket Number | No. A00A2451.,A00A2451. |
Citation | 541 S.E.2d 699,246 Ga. App. 729 |
Parties | KWICKIE/FLASH FOODS, INC. v. LAKESIDE PETROLEUM, INC. |
Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Gibson & Spivey, Douglas L. Gibson, Waycross, for appellant.
Robert D. Schoen, for appellee.
Appellee-plaintiff Lakeside Petroleum, Inc. ("Lakeside") brought the instant action for breach of contract1 or, in the alternative, for quantum meruit or unjust enrichment against appellant-defendant Kwickie/Flash Foods, Inc. ("Flash Foods"). Lakeside sought damages in the amount of $21,297.42, the balance owing for gasoline and diesel fuel it delivered to a Milledgeville Flash Foods store. Flash Foods timely filed its answer denying the material allegations of the complaint and admitting its receipt of such fuel in the alleged amount under a contract between the parties. Thereafter, Lakeside filed its motion for judgment on the pleadings, arguing that Flash Foods had otherwise admitted liability for the value of the fuel on quantum meruit or an unjust enrichment theory, Counts 2 and 3 of the complaint, respectively. Flash Foods now appeals from the superior court's order granting Lakeside judgment on the pleadings in the sum of $21,297.42, as well as its costs of litigation and interest. Held: Maxwell v. Cronan, 241 Ga.App. 491, 493(1), 527 S.E.2d 1 (1999). Pressley v. Maxwell, supra at 360, 249 S.E.2d 49.
Recovery in quantum meruit is not authorized when, as here, the claim is based on an express contract,2 Stowers v. Hall, 159 Ga.App. 501(1), 283 S.E.2d 714 (1981); Brumby v. Smith & Plaster Co., 123 Ga.App. 443, 181 S.E.2d 303 (1971); see also Millican Elec. Co. v. Fisher, 102 Ga.App. 309, 310(1), 116 S.E.2d 311 (1960) () . Neither does an unjust enrichment theory lie where there is an express contract. Cochran v. Ogletree, 244 Ga.App. 537, 538(1), 536 S.E.2d 194 (2000); Zampatti v. Tradebank Intl. Franchising Corp., 235 Ga.App. 333, 340(5), 508 S.E.2d 750 (1998).
While Lakeside argues that Flash Foods otherwise admitted liability on quantum meruit and unjust enrichment theory by its answer, the record shows that Lakeside pled its entitlement to recovery on these theories on the basis of the contract between the parties alone. Pretermitting whether Flash Foods answered, in part, by admitting the elements of an action in quantum meruit or unjust enrichment, Flash Foods nevertheless denied liability for damages under either theory. Doing so sufficiently stated a defense to each claim, i.e., neither Count 2 (quantum meruit) nor Count 3 (unjust enrichment) alleged a cause of action as based on the contract between the parties. Stowers v. Hall, supra; Brumby v. Smith & Plaster Co., supra; Millican Elec. Co. v. Fisher, supra; Cochran v. Ogletree, supra; Zampatti v. Tradebank Intl. Franchising Corp., supra. As a consequence, the superior court erred in granting Lakeside's motion for judgment on the pleadings as to Counts 2 and 3 of the complaint. Pressley v. Maxwell, supra. Finally, Flash Foods, having sufficiently stated its defense by general denial as to Count 1 (breach of contract), see Knickerbocker Tax Systems v. Texaco, 130 Ga.App. 383, 385, 203 S.E.2d 290 (1973) (, )overruled on other grounds, Eckles v. Atlanta Technology, 267 Ga. 801, 806, 485 S.E.2d 22 (1997), Lakeside would not have been entitled to judgment on the pleadings on this basis even had such relief been sought. See Pressley v. Maxwell, supra at 360, 249 S.E.2d 49; Maxwell v. Cronan, supra at 493(1), 527 S.E.2d 1. For the...
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