Also of special interest are two cases that involve claims by a party to a contract against a non-party for a benefit conferred on the non-party through the contract. Clark Office Building LLC v MCM Capital Partners LLLP §117 has unusual facts, forcing the court to look to general principles. A tenant who stopped paying rent allowed other businesses to use the building rent free. The landlord tried to collect part of the unpaid rent from the free loaders. The court denied the claim. ACI Construction LLC v Elevated Property Investments LLC §111 also involves a novel version of a more familiar type of claim. The court holds an unpaid contractor who improved the value of the security may recover from a secured creditor who purchased the security at a foreclosure auction for an amount much less than the security’s fair market value.

LOS made a mortgage loan of $252,000 to EPI for the purchase and improvement of a house, with $88,860 of the loan amount being allotted for improvements. The improvements ended up costing much more. ACI was hired to replace the first contractor, who did shoddy work. ACI performed a total of $141,000 work on the property and filed construction liens for this amount. When EPI defaulted on its contract with ACI and its loan with LOS, ACI had been paid $47,350, leaving a balance of $93,650. At this point LOS had already dispersed $82,181.80 in response to requested draws for improvements,