What is the burden of proving a breach of contract?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from Matthew Brady Self Storage Corp. v. Instorage Trustee Corp., 2013 ONSC 4345 (CanLII):

If the defendant breaches a contract it bears the onus of proving that the plaintiff unreasonably failed to mitigate its loss (see: Red Deer College v. Michaels, 1975 CanLII 15 (SCC), [1976] 2 S.C.R. 324). This entails establishing on a balance of probabilities two steps of proof: that the opportunities to mitigate were available to the plaintiff and that the plaintiff unreasonably failed to pursue them.

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