700.17. Determination of Damages-Mitigation of Damages

700.17 Determination of Damages--Mitigation of Damages The law provides a party cannot recover damages [he] [she] [it] could have prevented by exercising ordinary care and diligence when [he] [she] [it] learned or should have learned of the breach. The burden is on [name of defendant] [names of defendants] to prove [name of plaintiff] failed to minimize [his] [her] [its] damages and that the damages should be reduced by a particular amount as a result. In this case, [name of defendant] [names of defendants] claim[s] and [has] [have] the burden of proving that, with reasonable efforts and ordinary care, [name of plaintiff] could have avoided some losses in whole or in part, even though [his] [her] [its] losses originally resulted from the [name of defendant's] [names of defendants's] failure to keep [his] [her] [its] promise. If [name of defendant] [names of defendants] proves [prove] that [name of plaintiff] could have avoided some losses in whole or in part with reasonable efforts and ordinary care, you may not require [name of defendant] [names of defendants] to pay the amount [name of plaintiff] could reasonably have avoided and you must subtract any such amount from the amount of damages you have found. If you find [name of plaintiff] incurred costs in making a reasonable effort to avoid such losses, you must make an award to [name of plaintiff] for such costs. You will address these issues in questions [__], [__] on your verdict.