Quick answer: Maryland is one of the last states where being even slightly at fault for your own injury bars you from recovering anything at all — not a reduced award, nothing. That one rule shapes every injury claim in this state. You generally have three years from the date of the injury to file suit, and far less if a government entity is involved. Almost everything that matters in a Maryland injury case follows from those two facts.
I’m David Waranch. I handle Maryland injury claims — car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, and slip-and-fall — the consultation costs you nothing, and I work these cases on a contingency fee, so I don’t get paid unless you recover.
The Rule That Decides Maryland Injury Cases
Most states use comparative fault: 20% at fault, you collect 80%. Maryland does not. It still applies pure contributory negligence, with only Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. If a jury finds you even 1% at fault, your recovery is zero.
It is the first defense every adjuster reaches for — the only one that ends a case outright. Maryland’s highest court reconsidered it in 2013 in Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia, 432 Md. 679, and refused to abandon the doctrine:
“…we decline to abrogate Maryland’s long-established common law principle of contributory negligence.”
The Court left any change to the General Assembly, as it had in Harrison v. Montgomery County Board of Education, 295 Md. 442 (1983). Comparative-fault bills reach Annapolis regularly; none has passed.
“It was mostly their fault, so I’ll get most of my money.” In Maryland, you get nothing. There is no sliding scale here. An adjuster who can persuade a jury that you were going five over, or stepped off the curb early, or glanced at your phone, does not shave a percentage off your claim — they defeat it entirely. This is exactly why the friendly recorded statement gets requested in the first week, and why what you say in it matters more in Maryland than it would almost anywhere else.
One escape hatch: the last clear chance doctrine lets a negligent plaintiff recover if the other party had a genuine final opportunity to avoid the collision and failed to take it. Narrow, heavily litigated, and something to prove.
With stakes that binary, fault gets fought over trivia — starting with what the defense must show to make contributory negligence stick.
The Seat Belt Exception the Legislature Wrote In
One argument the defense is barred from making: that you weren’t wearing your seat belt. Md. Code, Transp. § 22-412.3(h) bars failure to use one as evidence of negligence or contributory negligence, and it may not limit a party’s or insurer’s liability or diminish recovery. Except in cases about the belt’s own design or repair, no one may even mention a seat belt at a civil trial. Adjusters raise it pre-suit anyway, where the rules of evidence don’t apply.
How Long You Have to File
The general rule is three years, per Md. Code, Cts & Jud. Proc. § 5-101:
“A civil action at law shall be filed within three years from the date it accrues unless another provision of the Code provides a different period of time within which an action shall be commenced.”
That last clause is where people get hurt.
| Type of claim | Deadline | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary personal injury | 3 years from the date the claim accrues | Cts & Jud. Proc. § 5-101 |
| Wrongful death | 3 years from the date of death | Cts & Jud. Proc. § 3-904(g) |
| Injured child | The lesser of 3 years or the normal limitations period, running from when the disability is removed | Cts & Jud. Proc. § 5-201 |
| Against a county, city, or town | Written notice within 1 year of the injury, in addition to the filing deadline | Cts & Jud. Proc. § 5-304 |
| Against the State of Maryland | Written claim to the State Treasurer within 1 year; suit filed within 3 years | State Gov’t § 12-106 |
Government defendants are the trap. A county truck, a school-property injury, an unrepaired pothole — three years is not your deadline. Under the Local Government Tort Claims Act, § 5-304 requires written notice within one year of the injury, stating time, place, and cause, delivered in person or by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the official the statute names: the City Solicitor in Baltimore City; the County Executive in Howard and Montgomery; the county solicitor or county attorney in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Frederick, Harford, and Prince George’s. Get the recipient wrong and you can lose a valid claim.
Claims against the State run through the Maryland Tort Claims Act: State Gov’t § 12-106 requires a written claim to the State Treasurer within one year of the injury, a final denial, and suit within three years. Both statutes carry relief valves — good cause absent prejudice, or actual or constructive notice within the year — but treat one year as the deadline.
For a child, § 5-201 holds the limitations clock until the disability of minority is removed, so a claim normally survives past the eighteenth birthday — but it does not rescue a late notice to a government defendant. More on Maryland filing deadlines.
What You Can Recover — and the One Cap Maryland Applies
Damages split in two. Economic — medical bills, future care, lost wages, lost earning capacity, property damage — are not capped. Noneconomic — pain, suffering, inconvenience, impairment, disfigurement, loss of consortium — are capped by Cts & Jud. Proc. § 11-108.
The cap moves. It began at $500,000 for causes of action arising on or after October 1, 1994, and rises $15,000 every October 1. What governs is the figure in force when your cause of action arose — not when you file or settle.
| Cause of action arises | Noneconomic damages cap | Wrongful death, 2 or more beneficiaries |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2024 – Sep 30, 2025 | $950,000 | $1,425,000 |
| Oct 1, 2025 – Sep 30, 2026 | $965,000 | $1,447,500 |
| Oct 1, 2026 – Sep 30, 2027 | $980,000 | $1,470,000 |
With two or more wrongful death beneficiaries the ceiling is 150% of the standard cap, however many share it. The jury is never told the cap exists — § 11-108(d) forbids it — so the court reduces the verdict afterward.
Which Insurance Policy Actually Pays
A Maryland crash usually involves three separate pots of money.
| Coverage | What it pays | Whose policy |
|---|---|---|
| PIP (personal injury protection) | Minimum $2,500 toward medical expenses incurred within 3 years, plus 85% of lost income — paid without regard to fault | Yours, unless you waived it in writing |
| Liability (bodily injury) | Your full damages, but only if you prove the other driver’s negligence and survive a contributory negligence defense | The at-fault driver’s |
| UM / UIM | Steps in when the at-fault driver has no insurance, not enough insurance, or was never identified | Yours |
PIP matters most in a contributory negligence state. Under Md. Code, Ins. § 19-507, benefits are payable “without regard to the fault or nonfault” of the insured — so even where fault defeats your liability claim, your own PIP pays, regardless of other health coverage. Waiving it to trim a premium surfaces here: how Maryland PIP works.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is your own policy, but claiming on it is adversarial: your insurer stands in the at-fault driver’s shoes and can raise every defense that driver could, contributory negligence included. It also responds in a hit-and-run where the driver is never found.
Two Maryland Wrinkles That Recur
- Right-of-way collisions. The boulevard rule governs right of way when a driver enters a favored highway from an unfavored road, and can decide liability by itself — for you or against you.
- Government vehicles and property. The one-year notice above, to a named recipient.
What to Do Now
Be careful with the other driver’s insurer. The adjuster will be pleasant and will ask for a recorded statement early. Elsewhere that is low-stakes; here it can end your case. Read this first.
Your own insurer is not neutral. Your PIP and UM claims run through it, but its interests diverge from yours once money is at stake. Settle property damage separately if you like, just not on a release that also disposes of the injury claim. Keep the treatment record clean: gaps and over-treatment both cut against a claim.
Call 301-563-9575 or toll-free 1-877-566-2408. Tell me what happened and I’ll tell you honestly whether you have a claim — including when the answer is no.
Frequently Asked Questions
Usually no. Maryland is one of only five jurisdictions that still applies pure contributory negligence, which means a plaintiff found even slightly at fault recovers nothing rather than a reduced amount. Maryland’s highest court reaffirmed the doctrine in Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia in 2013 and left any change to the legislature. A narrow exception called last clear chance can apply if the other party had a genuine final opportunity to avoid the collision and failed to take it.
Three years from the date the claim accrues, under Courts and Judicial Proceedings section 5-101. Wrongful death is three years from the date of death. If a county, city, or town is involved you must also give written notice within one year of the injury, and claims against the State require a written claim to the State Treasurer within one year. Those notice deadlines are separate from and earlier than the three-year filing deadline.
Only noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering are capped. Medical bills, lost wages, and other economic losses are not capped at all. The limit started at 500,000 dollars for causes of action arising on or after October 1, 1994 and rises by 15,000 dollars every October 1, which puts it at 965,000 dollars for a cause of action arising between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026. In a wrongful death case with two or more beneficiaries the ceiling is 150 percent of that figure.
Law Offices of David R. Waranch — 301-563-9575 · toll-free 1-877-566-2408. Hablamos Español.
Last updated: August 2026. Statutory references: Md. Code, Cts & Jud. Proc. §§ 5-101, 5-201, 5-304, 3-904, 11-108; State Gov’t § 12-106; Transp. § 22-412.3; Ins. §§ 19-505, 19-507. Case law: Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia, 432 Md. 679 (2013); Harrison v. Montgomery County Board of Education, 295 Md. 442 (1983). This page is general information about Maryland law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Damage caps and deadlines depend on facts specific to your case.