Lu

Plaintiff and appellant Ai Ping Lu (appellant) appeals from a judgment in favor of defendants and respondents Narinder Singh Grewal and Ravinder S. Grewal (respondents) following a bench trial. Lu sued the Grewals for unpaid rent and other damages as a result of the breach of a commercial lease when respondents abandoned the subject property. The trial court entered judgment for respondents in spite of their breach, finding the appellant suffered no damages because she and her husband occupied the premises, managed to mn the business at a profit, and mitigated damages well above the amount of damages owed by respondents.

Appellant contends, among other things, (1) the purpose of Civil Code section 1951.2 is to encourage productive use of vacant commercial property after abandonment, (2) section 1951.2 contemplates mitigation only in terms of efforts to relet the vacant premises, (3) at the very most, respondents were entitled to an offset measured by the property’s reasonable market rental value, and (4) appellant was the true prevailing party at the conclusion of trial. For the reasons discussed hereafter, we conclude appellant is entitled to recover damages with…