What Does Mitigation Mean in Legal Terms

Financing major purchases is common in society, but sometimes people can`t meet their obligations. This does not mean that a creditor has the right to take unfair advantage in the event of default. «Mitigation Merriam-Webster.com Legal Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/legal/mitigation%20of%20damages. Retrieved 14 January 2022. Mitigation is a legal defense generally used in tort law or contract law. Also known as the doctrine of avoidable consequences, it is the idea that an injured party cannot recover the unreasonable costs of its injury if it could have avoided those expenses with reasonable effort. This approach prevents injured parties from receiving redress in situations where they could reasonably have avoided their harm or minimized the costs and impact of their injuries. However, like many aspects of tort and contract law, mitigating situations can become quite complicated. Mitigation is a contract law concept that requires a victim in a contract dispute to minimize damages resulting from a breach of contract. This means that the victim is required by law to act in a manner that mitigates both the effects of the violation and his or her own personal loss, and even though the victim who suffers personal harm through no fault of his or her own is obliged to take reasonable steps to avoid further losses and minimize the consequences of the harm. The obligation to mitigate damages will almost always be raised when determining your right to compensation. A local business lawyer can help you explain the law and your rights and prove that the plaintiff has not reduced or decreased their damages.

In addition, a lawyer can provide advice on what to do to maintain your claim. Damage mitigation has also been invoked in the area of property law. For example, if a tenant terminates their lease, a landlord is required to mitigate the damage caused by the offending tenant. In this case, the mitigation doctrine imposes an obligation on the landlord to try to find a new tenant and re-rent the property. The question of what is appropriate is particularly controversial in cases of bodily injury where the applicant refuses medical advice. This can be seen in cases such as Janiak v. Ippolito. [3] The antonym of attenuation is aggravation. The duty to mitigate damages has traditionally been most often used in the areas of tort and contract law.

In a breach case, the other party is required to mitigate the damage upon receipt of notice that a party does not intend to perform, meaning that it must make reasonable efforts to avoid further losses due to the breach. The duty to mitigate damages was exemplified in contract law in Luten Bridge Co. v. Rockingham County, where Rockingham County hired Luten Bridge Co. to build a bridge. After that, the county agreed not to proceed with the construction of the bridge and informed Luten to stop construction of the bridge. However, Luten continued the construction and then filed a lawsuit for damages for breach of contract by the county. The court ruled that Luten was obliged to stop construction and that a contractor could not continue working on a project and increase the damages caused by the breach of contract. The court will first examine the contract itself. The court will determine what was promised and by whom.

The court will evaluate the terms of the contract. The court also decides whether there is an offence and, if so, when. If there is no infringement, the plaintiff is not entitled to damages. The doctrine of harm reduction, also known as the doctrine of avoidable consequences, prevents an aggrieved party from compensating for harm that could have been avoided by reasonable effort. The defendant`s actions may also lead to the mitigation of damages that would otherwise have been owed to the successful plaintiff. For example, the Civil Law (Torts) Act 2002 (ACT) provides that mitigation for the publication of defamatory content may result from an apology from a defendant and a published correction (Section 139I). To better explain mitigation, here are some examples in different areas of law: As above, if a person suffers damage as a result of a breach of contract, they are required by law to minimize the impact and losses resulting from the breach. The purpose of the obligation to mitigate damages is to refuse to reimburse a portion of the damage that could reasonably have been avoided.

This principle, known as harm reduction, is an essential defence for many defendants. «Reasonably avoided» has no specific definition, but generally means what a reasonable person would do in similar circumstances. If a person is required to mitigate the damages, and they do not, the courts will generally reduce their damages by the amount they could have mitigated.