Magical Contracts

70 N.Y.2d 382 (1987)

Clark-Fitzpatrick, Inc., Appellant, v. Long Island Rail Road Company, Respondent, et al., Defendant.

Court of Appeals of the State of New York.

Indeed, we have stated that: "Quasi contracts are not contracts at all, although they give rise to obligations more akin to those stemming from contract than from tort. The contract is a mere fiction, a form imposed in order to adapt the case to a given remedy * * * Briefly stated, a quasi-contractual obligation is one imposed by law where there has been no agreement or expression of assent, by word or act, on the part of either party involved. The law creates it, regardless of the intention of the parties, to assure a just and equitable result"