There are certain responsibilities that you must fulfill as you and your Costa Mesa attorney build and conduct your employment case. Primary among these is mitigation of damages, as explained in the paragraphs below.

Mitigate Your Damages
This duty bears directly on you. You must demonstrate that you have taken the appropriate steps to alleviate your situation, in particular by actively seeking employment. If you do not, your lack of fulfillment of this duty could adversely affect your award.

Actions by Opposing Counsel
Although it is the opposition’s responsibility to disprove your efforts to mitigate, defense attorneys often takes the position of requiring you to offer verification that you did make those efforts. They will demand that you disclose the steps you took to find work and any earnings that stemmed from them. This is not information that you should feel reluctant to reveal, but it is the defense’s place to disprove your efforts and the ensuing results, not confirm them.

Meaning of Mitigation
As you testify to your attempts to mitigate your damages, your Costa Mesa employment lawyer will emphasize to the opposition that there is nothing requiring you to change career fields or accept a position that is substantially lower than what you had before. Whether you actually find a job or not, mitigation requires you to make every attempt to seek one that is commensurate with the job you lost. If the opposing counsel indicates that you ignored potentially suitable positions, your lawyer should require them to produce evidence that such positions were open to you and that you failed to apply for any of them.

Document Your Efforts
Whether or not the question of your efforts to mitigate arises during negotiations, it is wise that you retain documentation that shows the steps you took. Keep any newspaper ads you answered, any correspondence between you and prospective employers and hard copies of any employment-related web sites through which you submitted resumes or applications. You should also record the times, dates and if possible, results of any interviews. It may never become necessary, but in case it does it is far better to have such documentation and not need it than to need it and not have it. Thus, if the defense alleges that you did not make sufficient efforts towards mitigation, your attorney can point to these records to show that you did.

Don’t Wait another Minute
Find the help, guidance and representation you require by engaging the services of your Costa Mesa attorney today. Call Daily Aljian LLP at 949-861-2524 and take that important first step.