Rule Of Breach Of Contract Damages To Mitigate The Damage

The rule of mitigaton is the law does not allow a plaintiff to recover damages to compensate him for loss which would not have been suffered if he had taken reasonable steps to mitigate his loss.The thesis introduces the basic concepts, the functions, the measure and theory basement of the rule of mitigation. The purpose of the rules on mitigation is to prevent the waste of resources in society, since they are obviously limited.There are three rules often referred to under the comprehensive heading of "mitigation": they will be considered in turn. First, the plaintiff can not recover damages for any part of his loss consequent upon the defendant's breach of contract which the plaintiff could have avoided by taking reasonable steps. Secondly, if the plaintiff in fact avoids or mitigates his loss consequent upon the defendant's breach, he can not recover for such avoided loss, even though the steps he took were more than could be reasonably required of him under the first rule. Thirdly, where the plaintiff incurs loss or expense in the course of taking reasonable steps to mitigate the loss resulting from the defedant's breach, the plaintiff may recover this further loss or expense from the defendant, even when the mitigating steps were unsuccessful or in fact led to greater loss.Mitigation only requires the plaintiff to act 'reasonably' in all the circumstances. But there is no obligation to do anything other than in the 'ordinary course of business' and it is a question of fact in each case wheather the plaintiff has acted as a reasonable person might have been expected to act. The standard of judgement is reasonable diligence, ordinary care, common sense, good faith and fair dealing.The thesis also introduces the relatonship between the rule of mitigation, contributory negligence and anticipatory breach.