Also known as: mitigates damages · mitigated damages · mitigating damages · mitigation of damages · duty to mitigate · mitigation doctrine
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A principle requiring an injured party to take reasonable steps to minimize losses resulting from another's breach of contract or tortious conduct. The principle prevents recovery of damages that could have been avoided without undue risk, burden, or humiliation.
A principle requiring an injured party to take reasonable steps to minimize losses resulting from another's breach of contract or tortious conduct. The principle prevents recovery of damages that could have been avoided without undue risk, burden, or humiliation.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
When a special benefit is conferred on the plaintiff by the defendant's conduct, that benefit is credited against damages to the extent equity requires.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
When a special benefit is conferred on the plaintiff by the defendant's conduct, that benefit is credited against damages to the extent equity requires.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Mustafa Mahmoud vacated his apartment mid-lease and stopped paying rent. Sommer, the landlord, posted a vacancy sign, advertised the unit, and secured a new tenant within two months at a slightly lower rent. Sommer sues Mahmoud for the full remaining rent. The court reduces the award by the rent received from the replacement tenant because the landlord made reasonable efforts to mitigate.
Miranda Morales was wrongfully terminated from her position at Monarch Pharmaceuticals. She immediately applied to three comparable firms in her field and accepted the first suitable offer within six weeks. Morales sues for lost wages over the full notice period. The court limits her recovery to the six-week gap because she fulfilled the duty to mitigate by promptly obtaining substitute employment.
Marco Marquez abandoned his commercial lease with Meridian Motors after six months. Kendall, the lessor, listed the space with a broker and found a new tenant willing to pay market rent within four months. Kendall sues Marquez for the full remaining term. The court credits the new rent against the claim because the lessor mitigated damages upon the lessee's abandonment.
In tort cases involving intentional or reckless conduct, the plaintiff's damages are generally not reduced for avoidable consequences unless the plaintiff intentionally or heedlessly failed to protect her own interests. The rule therefore preserves full recovery for harms the plaintiff could have prevented when the defendant acted with that heightened mental state.
Supporting sources
A landlord who declines a suitable replacement tenant cannot recover the full remaining rent. The duty to mitigate requires reasonable efforts to relet, and losses that could have been avoided by accepting an appropriate sublease are not recoverable.
Supporting sources
An injured party need not accept mitigation that would impose an undue burden. When conditional replacement funding would force a nonprofit to eliminate a defining program central to its stated purpose, a court may treat the refusal as reasonable and permit full recovery of the original loss.
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Yes. When an injured party makes reasonable efforts to locate replacement funding or performance, even if those efforts fail, the party remains entitled to recover losses that could not have been avoided. The rule protects recovery after diligent but fruitless attempts.
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Maya Malik's property suffered flooding after Mercury Industries negligently diverted water. The flooding destroyed her old shed but deposited fertile soil that increased the land's agricultural value by half the amount of the shed loss. Maya seeks full damages for the shed. The court credits the soil benefit against her recovery because the defendant's conduct conferred a special advantage to the harmed interest.
…have been modernly applied to the construction of leases.” 56 N.J. at 141. Application of the contract rule requiring mitigation of damages to a residential lease may be justified as a matter of basic fairness.[^maj-4] Professor McCormick first commented upon the inequity under the majority rule when he predicted in 1925 that…