Why did the butcher incur the $2,000 rental cost in the June window?

• A. Because the butcher could not take possession on June 1 and had to rent elsewhere until June 10.
• B. Because the buyer refused to pay.
• C. Because the seller did not own the property.
• D. Because the butcher extended the lease voluntarily.

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that when a party must deliver possession by a set date and fails to do so, the other party can recover reasonably foreseeable costs caused by that delay; they must mitigate by obtaining substitute performance. Here, the butcher could not take possession on the agreed date (June 1) and had to rent space elsewhere until the property was available (June 10). That interim rental is a direct consequence of the seller’s delay and is recoverable as damages if reasonable and foreseeable. The other options don’t fit: a refusal to pay would be a dispute over payment, not a cost caused by delayed possession; the seller not owning the property points to a different issue than a timing breach; and the butcher extending the lease voluntarily would not create damages from a breach. Therefore, the rental cost arises from the seller’s failure to deliver possession on the scheduled date.