Section 5 Mitigation of Damages

• Library: Damages 2012

The burden is on the employer to plead and prove the plaintiff’s failure to mitigate damages. In Stewart v. Board of Education of Ritenour Consolidated School District, R‑3, 630 S.W.2d 130, 134 (Mo. App. E.D. 1982), the Eastern District of the Court of Appeals adopted the test outlined by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in Ryan v. Superintendent of Schools of Quincy, 373 N.E.2d 1178, 1181 (Mass. 1978), which states:

“A former employer meets its burden of proof of ‘mitigation of damages’ if the employer...