A pre-agreed amount owed if a party breaches — used when real damages would be hard to calculate. Enforceable if it’s a reasonable estimate; struck down as a "penalty" if it’s designed to punish.
A liquidated damages clause fixes the price of breach in advance: miss the deadline, pay $X per day; break the lease early, owe two months’ rent. The law’s line: these clauses are enforceable when actual damages would be difficult to measure and the amount is a reasonable forecast of the harm — but courts strike them down as unenforceable penalties when the number is designed to punish or coerce rather than compensate. If you’re facing one, ask whether the figure bears any relationship to real loss. If it’s wildly disproportionate, it may not hold up — and that’s a genuine defense, not a technicality.
No — they must be a reasonable pre-estimate of hard-to-measure harm. Amounts designed to punish are unenforceable penalties in most jurisdictions.
Generally no for the same breach — liquidated damages typically substitute for proving actual damages, not stack on top.
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