Contract Law For Dummies
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The plaintiff in a breach of contract case faces an uphill battle in proving the case. Any damages the court awards are limited by the following considerations:

  • Causation: The plaintiff must prove that the breach caused the loss.

  • Certainty: The plaintiff must prove the amount of damages to a reasonable certainty.

  • Foreseeability (the Hadley rule): The plaintiff can recover only the losses that the defendant, at the time the parties made the contract, would reasonably have known would result from the breach.

  • Mitigation: The plaintiff must make reasonable efforts to minimize the cost of the breach.

About This Article

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About the book author:

Scott J. Burnham is the Curley Professor of Commercial Law at Gonzaga University School of Law. For 30 years he has taught Contracts at law schools internationally and throughout the U.S. He is also a prolific writer on legal topics and a consultant on contract drafting for numerous businesses.

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