Breach of Contract Questions: can I sue for more than the contract stated?

[garret]

My old roommate moved out about 3 1/2 months ago after we had several severe problems. In order to ensure as "peaceful" a parting as possible, we drafted and signed an agreement. It stated that she would 1.) move out by a certain date and 2.) pay for the damages she had done to the unit. She has failed to comply with anything that the written agreement has said. She failed to move out by the deadline, failed to take all of her things with her, and has not made any payments although she agreed she would. I would like to take her to small claims court but I had a few questions that I could not find the answer to elsewhere.

1.) The agreement stated that she "should" be making monthly payments (of any amount) but she has refused. She did verbally agree that she would be making payments however. Is this a valid reason to sue since it didn't say she "must" make monthly payments?

2.) I wanted to include a month and a half's rent to her overall bill because she left the house in such an unusable state (she left trash everywhere, never took all of her things, and left the house infested with bugs) that it took us awhile to fix it up and move someone in. This was not stated in the written agreement. However, she broke the agreement by not moving out by the stated date which also hindered our ability to replace her with someone else. Is it fair to request the missing rent, even though it's not part of the contract.

and most importantly,

3.)It was verbally agreed upon that written agreement had blanks on it to include damages that could not be determined. Thus, the written agreement did not state a specific amount. Now we cannot agree on an amount. I would like to sue her for more than the agreement stated. The agreement was drafted to be a compromise, meaning that I (as well as the other roommates) were willing to accept a lesser amount than she actually owed. Since she has been so difficult and is refusing to pay for things she once agreed to pay, I would like to sue her in court for everything she owes. Is that alright or am I restricted to only those things in the contract?

[giulio]

are you in california?

[spengler]

You can sue her for the damages suffered, independent of the contract.

[ryscford]

I think you can use more than one

[corcoran42]

When suing another party you can sue them to become whole (all monies out) but not profit from it.
So you can sue for the full amount of the damages she has done plus rent for the full term as she did violate the written terms of the agreement. but you must due your due diligence to rent out her space based on your phrasing of the question it appears you've done this.