BP Group, Inc. v. Kloeber

BP Group (plaintiff) subleased a jet to Capital Wings Airlines (CWA), guaranteed personally by its owners including Kloeber (defendant), under a deal requiring CWA to pay at least $80,000 monthly. After a dispute over a $650,000 refurbishing bill led the refurbisher to hold the jet for six months, BP paid the bill, retrieved the jet, and a month later subleased it to another airline for less money and with no monthly minimum. BP sued CWA and its guarantors for the shortfall and refurbishing costs, and the trial court found the replacement lease substantially similar despite the missing minimum, reasoning Kloeber hadn't rebutted BP's claim that no one would pay $80,000 monthly during the economic downturn, and awarded BP over $1.5 million on summary judgment. Kloeber appealed, arguing BP failed to adequately mitigate and could have found a more comparable replacement.