The Virginia Business Litigation Blog
A party that performs services and incurs expenses does not automatically acquire an equitable claim for compensation. In certain circumstances, claims for unjust enrichment or quantum meruit may arise, but these claims require the claimant to prove the defendant either requested the services or at least knowingly accepted the services and retained a benefit under circumstances making nonpayment unjust. In an unpublished decision of the Virginia Court of Appeals earlier this month, a trucking company had incurred time and expenses relating to providing labor, drivers, transportation, and storage in connection with returning dozens of loaded trailers to its former customer. It demanded payment for those services. The customer had made post-termination payments that looked, at least superficially, like recognition of an ongoing obligation. The Court of Appeals, however, held that none of that entitled the trucking company to equitable relief. The trial court found that the customer had terminated the arrangement, paid what it owed, and repeatedly demanded return of its property. The Court of Appeals reasoned that returning property one is already obligated to return confers no benefit for which the law implies a promise to pay.
The case is Webb’s Truck Leasing Corp. v. CHKD Thrift Stores, LLC, Record No. 0246-25-1 (Va. Ct. App. July 21, 2026). The facts go something like this. CHKD Thrift Stores receives donated goods, sells them, and remits the net proceeds to benefit the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. For years, CHKD and Webb operated under an oral arrangement in which Webb stored and transported trailers holding CHKD’s excess charitable-donation inventory. Beginning in March 2018, CHKD notified Webb that the arrangement was terminated and demanded return of the donations. Webb neither returned the donations nor allowed CHKD to retrieve them. CHKD reiterated the termination in July 2018, paying Webb’s outstanding invoices of $60,694.76 in an effort to make a “clean break.” Then, in a July 1, 2019 letter, CHKD’s counsel declared that all agreements would conclude on August 31, 2019, enclosed a payment of $73,425 stated to satisfy “any and all obligations,” and warned that CHKD would pay “no additional money” and have “[n]o obligation of any kind” to Webb thereafter. Webb cashed the check and admitted that, as of August 31, 2019, CHKD owed it no debt related to the donations.