High Court Strikes Out Job Applicant's Unjust Enrichment Claim
Unjust enrichment occurs where one party provides something of value to another party without receiving proper reimbursement or compensation for it.
A common example of unjust enrichment is where one party provides goods or services to another, and the other party fails to pay for those good or services. In those circumstances the party that provided the goods or services could then claim unjust enrichment. It is not necessary for there to be a contract between the parties in order to bring a claim.
Potential Recruit Charges Company For Consultancy Services
In the case of Ogedegbe v Simplyhealth People Ltd, Mr Ogedegbe applied for a role with Simplyhealth, a health insurance company. As part of their recruitment process Mr Ogedegbe had to carry out a sales pitch for one of their products. Following this, Mr Ogedegbe contacted one of the interviewers suggesting that information about premiums and levels of cover would help customers if it were included on their website.
Mr Ogedegbe was unsuccessful in securing the role following the recruitment process. However, he noticed that Simplyhealth had updated their website, in his view to reflect his suggestion to provide that additional information to customers.
Mr Ogedegbe contacted Simplyhealth to charge a fee of £20,000 for business consultancy services he claimed to have provided. He then brought a claim for unjust enrichment.
High Court Finds Claim to Have No Real Prospect of Success
The High Court struck out the claim and held that it had no real prospect of success. Mr Ogedegbe's email was found to be one with the aim to secure the offer of employment, not one of offering services. There was also no evidence of Simplyhealth having profited from the updates made to the website and therefore Simplyhealth had not benefitted from Mr Ogedegbe's suggestions.
Awareness of Unjust Enrichment
This is an unusual case based on a highly specific set of facts. It is nevertheless useful for employers to be aware of the existence of unjust enrichment as a potential course of action in the right circumstances. Most commonly, if an employer discovers it has overpaid a former employee (so has no opportunity to deduct the overpayment from future salary payments), it may be possible to pursue an unjust enrichment claim.
