Legal Definitions - avoidable-consequences doctrine

The avoidable-consequences doctrine, also known as the mitigation-of-damages doctrine, is a legal principle that requires a party who has suffered harm or loss due to another's wrongful act to take reasonable steps to minimize or "mitigate" their own damages. If the injured party fails to take such reasonable steps, they may not be able to recover compensation for the portion of the damages that could have been avoided. This doctrine encourages injured parties to act responsibly and not allow their losses to unnecessarily accumulate.

Here are some examples illustrating the avoidable-consequences doctrine:

• Employment Contract Breach: Imagine an executive is wrongfully terminated from their job with six months remaining on their employment contract. The executive cannot simply refuse to seek new employment and expect to recover their full salary for the entire six-month period. The avoidable-consequences doctrine requires them to make reasonable efforts to find a comparable new job. If the executive finds a new position after two months, their recoverable damages for lost wages would generally be limited to those two months, minus any earnings from the new job, because they mitigated their losses by securing alternative employment.

• Personal Injury from an Accident: Consider a pedestrian who suffers a knee injury after being hit by a negligent driver. A doctor advises the pedestrian to undergo a specific course of physical therapy to prevent long-term stiffness and pain. If the pedestrian chooses to ignore the medical advice and their knee condition significantly worsens as a result, they may not be able to claim compensation for the *aggravated* portion of the injury that could have been prevented by attending the recommended therapy. The doctrine holds that the injured party has a duty to take reasonable medical steps to prevent their injuries from becoming worse than necessary.

• Rental Property Abandonment: Suppose a tenant breaks their lease early, abandoning a rental apartment with four months remaining on the lease agreement. The landlord cannot simply leave the apartment vacant for four months and sue the former tenant for all the remaining rent. Under the avoidable-consequences doctrine, the landlord has a duty to make reasonable efforts to find a new tenant (e.g., advertise the property, show it to prospective renters, screen applicants). If the landlord successfully re-rents the apartment after one month, the original tenant would only be liable for the rent during that one-month vacancy period, as the landlord mitigated their losses by finding a replacement tenant.