Parties must avoid or mitigate damages to the extent possible by taking such steps as do not involve undue risk, expense, or inconvenience.
Failure to mitigate will defeat only a claim for consequential damages.
NY rule: No duty to mitigate for real estate leases. I.e., there is no duty on landlord's part to re-let or attempt to re-let abandoned premises. In such situations, a landlord may do three things:
- Do nothing and collect full rent due under lease
- Accept tenant's surrenter, re-enter premises, re-let premises, and release tenant from further liability or rent
- Notify of entry and re-letting for benefit of the tenant. Rent then collected will be apportioned to paying the tenant's rent obligation, but tenant will still be responsible for any additional rent left.