The act of choosing between inconsistent remedies allowed by law on the same set of facts, and its purpose is to prevent double recovery for a single wrong. For example, in the case of stealing, the plaintiff has to choose between returning the original goods and compensating the equivalent amount of money.
The election of remedies doctrine is a doctrine of estoppel that provides a party who has two co-existing but inconsistent remedies and elects to pursue one remedy to a conclusion may not sue for the other remedy. Ordinarily, this doctrine applies only when a party has elected to pursue one remedy to its conclusion and then attempts to pursue a subsequent claim on a second inconsistent theory.
If the court finds that there is no inconsistency among multiple remedies; for example, the remedy merely seeks further relief, then the doctrine is not applied.
[Last updated in October of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]