Mitigating Damages

There is a rule of law that requires Plaintiff’s to mitigate their damages or be precluded from claiming damages. This rule comes up most often in employment cases where a terminated employee is claiming future lost wages. This rule allows the Defendant to argue that the Plaintiff is not entitled to future lost wages because they did not attempt to secure future employment. In order to combat this attack the Plaintiff must show that they have attempted to obtain future employment. Generally, the Plaintiff does this by keeping track of all interviews, classified ads, phone calls and inquiries they have made to obtain work. This documentation is essential to counter the Defendant’s attack that the Plaintiff simply stayed home and never looked for work.