Small claims court hearing for unreturned sec deposit- Minnesota

[Albert George]

I have a past tenant of mine, who filled a claim for unreturned security deposit. Below is the situation

She broke the lease before the 1 year term. She violated the lease by having pets and when i enquired she was not willing to pay the pet deposit and terminated the lease early. I let he go and found a replacement tenant. I lost some money because i could only rent at a lower rate and few weeks after she moved out.

I sent her an email explanation before 21 days of her moving out on the loss of rent / advertising / marketing / showing expenses etc and mentioned i was at loss and cannot repay the deposit.

Questions : 

1) What are chances of defending myself at court, This is in Minnesota small claims court.

2) Is Email considered a valid medium of communication to send the Deposit statement explaining why i cannot refund deposit. I have a response from her on that to prove she received it.

[Deanna McCormick]

So mutual lease termination. Her obligation to pay you ended at date you both agreed she was to move out, because she wanted to keep her pet or whatever. 

I would say she owes for the 10 days if she agreed to stay to that date.

Your loss of rent for new tenant is not her responsibility to cover , and if you got any income for the part of month she was to cover from new tenant you have to give that back to her, you can't collect rent for same place from 2 people. 

how long has lapsed since she moved ? she has a certain period to request a refund back from you. I'm not sure what it is but can check later tonite and let you know tomorrow..

Best method of notice is use mail. As long as she responded she received your security deposit statement I would say you gave her OK notification. 

Any advertising, showing expenses, marketing expenses are not her's to cover .. If you agreed to let her break the lease and move out early, it doesn't matter if it was because of lease violation of dog if you agreed to let her break the lease and move.