Acceptance of Liability Bars Subsequent Mitigation and Minimal Damage Defenses

Acceptance of Liability Bars Subsequent Mitigation and Minimal Damage Defenses: The dispute involved a party who, while acknowledging an obligation to compensate another for property damage, later sought to limit that compensation by arguing the damage was minimal and that the claimant failed to mitigate losses, despite initial acceptance of liability for the full extent of the injury; the court of cassation overturned the lower court's decision because the party who initially accepted full liability could not subsequently rely on defenses of minimal damage or failure to mitigate without demonstrating that the initial acceptance was subject to express reservation or that the circumstances justifying the limitation occurred after the initial acknowledgement, thus affirming that a clear, unqualified acceptance of responsibility binds the acknowledging party.