A nursery school must show that it suffered actual damages before it can collect a full year’s tuition—$19,300—from a couple who moved to Virginia before the start of their son’s school year, a state judge in Manhattan has ruled.

Even though the couple had signed a contract obligating it to pay the full tuition, Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub (See Profile) ruled that the school could only enforce that requirement to the extent that its damages were proportional to the lost tuition.