Also known as: mitigation · mitigate · mitigated · mitigating · duty to mitigate · mitigation of damages
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A circumstance that reduces a killing from murder to voluntary manslaughter. The reduction occurs when the defendant acted in the heat of passion upon adequate provocation or held an honest but unreasonable belief that deadly force was necessary in self-defense.
A rule that reduces the amount of damages recoverable. Recovery is reduced by the value of any special benefit the defendant's conduct conferred on the interest harmed or by losses the injured party could have avoided through reasonable efforts after the breach or tort.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A circumstance that reduces a killing from murder to voluntary manslaughter. The reduction occurs when the defendant acted in the heat of passion upon adequate provocation or held an honest but unreasonable belief that deadly force was necessary in self-defense.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Matthew Martinez returned home to find his spouse in an act of adultery. Overcome by sudden rage, he grabbed a nearby object and struck the other person, causing death. The factfinder may reduce the charge from murder to voluntary manslaughter because the provocation was adequate and the passion was sudden.
Mustafa Mahmoud honestly but unreasonably believed deadly force was necessary to defend against an attack. He used that force and caused death. The honest though unreasonable belief mitigates the offense from murder to voluntary manslaughter.
The provocation must be adequate to cause an ordinary person sudden intense passion that overwhelms self-control. The defendant must have actually been provoked. There must be no cooling-off period. The killing must occur while the passion persists.
Supporting sources
A rule that reduces the amount of damages recoverable. Recovery is reduced by the value of any special benefit the defendant's conduct conferred on the interest harmed or by losses the injured party could have avoided through reasonable efforts after the breach or tort.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
After a supplier breached a delivery contract, the buyer could have purchased replacement goods at a lower spot-market price but failed to do so. The damages award against the supplier is reduced by the amount the buyer could have avoided through reasonable mitigation efforts.
A contractor's negligent excavation damaged the owner's adjoining lot but also installed improved drainage that increased the lot's value. The value of the drainage improvement is subtracted from the owner's damages award to the extent equity permits.
A tenant abandoned the leased premises before the end of the term. The landlord made no effort to relet the space. Under the governing rule the landlord had no duty to mitigate the tenant's liability for unpaid rent by attempting to find a replacement tenant.
Under the Restatement rule the landlord is under no duty to attempt to relet to mitigate the tenant's liability for rent. The landlord may accept surrender and terminate the lease or notify the tenant that it will relet for the tenant's account.
Supporting sources
When the tortious conduct confers a special benefit on the very interest harmed, the value of that benefit is considered in mitigation of damages to the extent equity allows.
Supporting sources
…422 U. S. 749 (1975). But so long as favorable administrative action is still possible, the policies favoring exhaustion are not mitigated in the slightest by the presence of a constitutional issue. See Christian, supra . To the extent that a nonconstitutional decision is possible only at the administrative level, those…
…factor requires that "other civil actions" filed "against the same defendant, based on the same conduct," be considered in mitigation. Id. , at 224. That factor did not apply here. Thus, the first, second, and third Green Oil factors, in
…which the New Jersey Supreme Court held that once a legal wrong has occurred, plaintiff's conduct after that time bears only on mitigation of damages
…The principle is analogous to the law relating to wrongful dismissal of servants, where immediate action is permitted and
…any doubt, if otherwise there would be any, that the contract impairment clause denies to the several states the power to
A defendant's negligent act damaged the plaintiff's property but simultaneously conferred a special benefit on the same interest. The value of that benefit is subtracted from the damages award to the extent equity permits.
Disclosure is permitted to prevent, mitigate, or rectify substantial injury to the financial interests or property of another that is reasonably certain to result or has resulted from the client's crime or fraud in furtherance of which the client used the lawyer's services.
Supporting sources
The condition must bear an essential nexus to a legitimate governmental interest that would justify denial of the permit and must be roughly proportional to the impact of the proposed development.
Supporting sources