Mitigation in law is the principle that a party who has suffered damages (tort or contract) must take reasonable steps to minimize the amount of damage suffered. As stated by the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada in Redpath Industries Ltd. v. Cisco (The),[1] “it is generally accepted that a party who suffers damage as a result of a breach of contract is required to mitigate that damage, which means that the infringer cannot be held liable for paying avoidable losses that would result in an increase in the amount of damages payable to the injured party.” The burden of proof of the failure to mitigate damages lies with the defendant. 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 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 engaged 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. It is a term that means to reduce or reduce how mitigating circumstances can mitigate a penalty. For example, imagine a tenant who signs an agreement to rent a house for a year, but moves out after only a month (and stops paying the rent). The landlord may be able to sue the tenant for breach of contract: however, the landlord must mitigate the damage by making a reasonable effort to find a replacement tenant for the rest of the year. The landlord cannot simply leave the house empty for eleven months and then sue the tenant for eleven months` rent. [2] n.

in criminal law, conditions or events that do not condone or justify criminal conduct, but are considered leniency or fairness in deciding the degree of crime charged to the prosecutor or influencing the reduction of sentence if convicted. Example: A young man shoots his father after years of being beaten, belittled, insulted and treated lovelessly. The “heat of passion” or the “diminishing of capacity” are forms of such extenuating circumstances. [Last updated June 2020 by Wex Definitions team] 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). 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. Supported by Black`s Law Dictionary, Free 2nd ed., and The Law Dictionary. 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.