Duty to Mitigate in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • Sotiros Shipping Inc. v Sameiet Solholt
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 11 March 1983

    A plaintiff is under no duty to mitigate his loss, despite the habitual use by the lawyers of the phrase "duty to mitigate". He is completely free to act as he judges to be in his best interests. On the other hand, a defendant is not liable for all loss suffered by the plaintiff in consequence of his so acting. A defendant is only liable for such part of the plaintiff's loss as is properly to be regarded as caused by the defendants' breach of duty.

  • Darbishire v Warran
    • Court of Appeal
    • 30 July 1963

    The Judge here held that the plaintiff was reasonable in having the car repaired notwithstanding that the cost wasmore than twice the value. It may well be that the plaintiff, so far as he himself was concerned, did act reasonably and that what he got was of more value to him than the damages represented by the value of the car. The true question was whether the plaintiff acted reasonably as between himself and the defendant and in view of his duty to mitigate the damages.

    The true meaning is that the plaintiff is not entitled to charge the defendant by way of damages with any greater sum than that which he reasonably needs to expend for the purpose of making good the loss. In short, he is fully entitled to be as extravagant as he pleases but not at the expense of the defendant.

  • Maredelanto Compania Naviera SA v Bergbau-Handel GmbH (The Mihalis Angelos)
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 01 July 1970

    If the contractual rights which he has lost were capable by the terms of the contract of being rendered either less valuable or valueless in certain events, and if it can be shown that those events were, at the date of acceptance of the repudiation, pre-destined to happen, then in my view the damages which he can recover are not more than the true value, if any, of the rights which he has lost, having regard to those pre-destined events.

  • AXA Insurance UK Plc v Cunningham Lindsey United Kingdom
    • Queen's Bench Division (Technology and Construction Court)
    • 18 December 2007

    The onus of establishing a failure to mitigate is upon the defendant. It is clear from numerous authorities that the duty to mitigate does not impose a heavy onus on a claimant. In almost every case, provided that the claimant can be shown not to have acted unreasonably in all the circumstances, to that extent it will not have failed to mitigate its loss.

  • Geest Plc v Lansiquot
    • Privy Council
    • 07 October 2002

    It should however be clearly understood that if a defendant intends to contend that a plaintiff has failed to act reasonably to mitigate his or her damage, notice of such contention should be clearly given to the plaintiff long enough before the hearing to enable the plaintiff to prepare to meet it. If there are no pleadings, notice should be given by letter.

  • Burdis v Livsey ; Clark v Ardington Electrical Services ; Dennard v Plant ; Sen v Steelform Engineering Company Ltd ; Lagden v O'Connor
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 01 May 2002

    In a case where such loss includes loss of use and he establishes a need for a replacement, he is entitled to the cost of hiring a replacement car. He can go round to the nearest car hire company and is prima facie entitled to recover the amount charged whether or not the charge is at the top of the range of car hire rates. However the basic principle is qualified by the duty to take reasonable steps to mitigate the loss. What is reasonable will depend on the particular circumstances.

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Legislation
  • Pension Schemes Act 2021
    • UK Non-devolved
    • January 01, 2021
  • The Employment Rights Act 1996 (NHS Recruitment — Protected Disclosure) Regulations 2018
    • UK Non-devolved
    • January 01, 2018
    ... ... the loss, the tribunal must apply the same rule concerning the duty to mitigate loss as applies to damages recoverable under the common law of ... ...
  • Care Act 2014
    • UK Non-devolved
    • January 01, 2014
    ... ... 1: Promoting individual well-being ... (1) The general duty of a local authority, in exercising a function under this Part in the case ... (2) The local authority must take reasonable steps to prevent or mitigate the loss or damage ... (3) For the purpose of performing that duty, the ... ...
  • The Credit Rating Agencies (Civil Liability) Regulations 2013
    • UK Non-devolved
    • January 01, 2013
    ... ... for the purposes of determining whether the statement gives rise to a duty of care in negligence. S-7 ... “Due care” “Due care” ... 7 ... S-15 ... Issuers and investors: duty to mitigate loss and contributory negligence Issuers and investors: duty to mitigate ... ...
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Books & Journal Articles
  • The White & Carter Principle: A Restatement
    • No. 74-2, March 2011
    • The Modern Law Review
    This article reviews the English courts' approach to the controversial decision in White & Carter (Councils) Ltd v McGregor and suggests a systematic reformulation of the principle to be derived fr...
    ... ... of a‘legitimate interest’, namely , the adequacy of damages , the duty to mitigate and the concept of wholly unreasonable , are assessed and ... ...
  • Book Review: Dominic Roser and Christian Seidel, Climate Justice: An Introduction
    • No. 16-1, February 2018
    • Political Studies Review
    ... ... in the area of climate policy ... tion, ‘Do we have a duty to do anything at all in  ... The book is suitable for introductory  ... environmental ethics and environmental eco- ... duty to mitigate climate change and refute the  ... nomics, as well as for a broader ... ...
  • NEW ANGLES IN THE ETERNAL HIRE‐PURCHASE TRIANGLE
    • No. 25-1, January 1962
    • The Modern Law Review
    ... ... amounted to a failure to take reasonable steps to mitigate the loss and damage occasioned to them by reason of the ... for any loss resulting from his failure to discharge this duty. The duty to mitigate is confined to such action as a reasonable ... ...
  • The Climate Duties of Sub-National Political Communities
    • No. 68-1, February 2020
    • Political Studies
    In recent years, several actors at the sub-national level (e.g. California, British Columbia, New York City) have taken unilateral steps to mitigate climate change by reducing their emissions. Thes...
    ... ... , British Columbia, New York City) have taken unilateral steps to mitigate climate change by reducing their emissions. These developments have ... cases in which the failure of some collective agent to discharge some duty to which it is subject entails duties for the sub-collectives of which it ... ...
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Law Firm Commentaries
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