CACI 3962 Duty to Mitigate Damages for Future Lost Earnings
California Civil Jury Instructions CACI
3962 Duty to Mitigate Damages for Future Lost Earnings
[Name of plaintiff] is not entitled to recover damages for future economic losses that [name of defendant] proves [name of plaintiff] will be able to avoid by returning to gainful employment as soon as it is reasonable for [him/her/nonbinary pronoun] to do so.
If you decide that [name of plaintiff] will be able to return to work, then you must not award [him/her/nonbinary pronoun] any damages for the amount [he/she/nonbinary pronoun] will be able to earn from future gainful employment. To calculate the amount of damages you must:
1.Determine the amount [name of plaintiff] would have earned from the job [he/she/nonbinary pronoun] held at the time [he/she/nonbinary pronoun] was injured; and
2.Subtract the amount [name of plaintiff] is reasonably able to earn from alternate employment.
The resulting amount is [name of plaintiff]’s damages for future lost earnings.
Directions for Use
For an instruction on mitigation of damages involving personal injury, see CACI No. 3930, Mitigation of Damages (Personal Injury).
Sources and Authority
•“A plaintiff has a duty to mitigate damages and cannot recover losses it could have avoided through reasonable efforts.” (Thrifty-Tel, Inc. v. Bezenek (1996) 46 Cal.App.4th 1559, 1568 [54 Cal.Rptr.2d 468].)
•“It is the employer’s burden ‘to affirmatively prove failure to mitigate as an affirmative defense.’ ” (Mize-Kurzman v. Marin Community College Dist. (2012) 202 Cal.App.4th 832, 871 [136 Cal.Rptr.3d 259].)
•“Whether a plaintiff acted reasonably to mitigate damages, however, is a factual matter to be determined by the trier of fact, and is reviewed under the substantial evidence test.” (Powerhouse Motorsports Group, Inc. v. Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. (2013) 221 Cal.App.4th 867, 884 [164 Cal.Rptr.3d 811].)
•“The doctrine of mitigation of damages holds that ‘[a] plaintiff who suffers damage as a result of either a breach of contract or a tort has a duty to take reasonable steps to mitigate those damages and will not be able to recover for any losses which could have been thus avoided.’ A plaintiff may not recover for damages avoidable through ordinary care and reasonable exertion. The duty to mitigate damages does not require an injured party to do what is unreasonable or impracticable. ‘The rule of mitigation of damages has no application where its effect would be to require the innocent party to sacrifice and surrender important and valuable rights.’ ” (Valle de Oro Bank v. Gamboa (1994) 26 Cal.App.4th 1686, 1691 [32 Cal.Rptr.2d 329], internal citations omitted.)
•“Had plaintiff actually retired and taken her retirement pension, we are convinced the trial court would have been required to exclude evidence of plaintiff’s retirement benefits as a collateral source. … [¶] It seems to us to make little sense to allow introduction into evidence of retirement benefits that plaintiff never received on the issue of mitigation where such evidence would have been precluded under the collateral source rule had she actually received the benefits. It appears the court viewed the issue as one of fact, akin to the question whether plaintiff made reasonable efforts to mitigate her damages by seeking comparable or substantially similar employment.” (Mize-Kurzman, supra, 202 Cal.App.4th at p. 877.)