State lawPure contributory negligence

Maryland Personal Injury Statute of Limitations and Fault Rules

Maryland gives you 3 years to file, under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. section 5-101, which is a full year longer than Virginia across the Potomac. That extra year is the only place Maryland is the gentler of the two. Maryland is one of only four states, plus Washington DC, that still applies pure contributory negligence, alongside Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia. Under that rule a plaintiff found even 1% at fault recovers nothing at all. To an adjuster, that turns a Maryland file into a liability investigation first and a damages negotiation a distant second: if 1% of the blame can be pinned on the injured person, the claim is worth zero no matter how badly they were hurt. What makes Maryland different from the other three contributory states is what sits on the other side of that rule. Maryland does cap non-economic damages, but the ceiling is among the more generous in the country and it moves every year. For causes of action arising between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026 it works out at 965,000 dollars, built from the 500,000 dollar figure the legislature set for October 1, 1994 plus 15,000 dollars for every October 1 since 1995. Medical malpractice then runs on a completely separate cap, on a completely separate anniversary: 920,000 dollars for a cause of action arising in calendar 2026, stepping up each January 1 instead. Two indexed caps on two different clocks is a real trap, because the date the cause of action arose, not the date you file or settle, decides which band applies. Maryland also splits government claims three ways, with different notice recipients, different statutes and different ceilings for the State, for a county or city, and for the Maryland Transit Administration. The figures here cover ordinary negligence, and given how unforgiving the fault rule is, any contested Maryland case needs a lawyer licensed in the state.

Maryland rules at a glance

Statute of limitations: 3 yr
Fault rule: Pure contributory negligence
No-fault (PIP) state: No
General damages cap: Non-economic damages capped at 965,000 dollars for causes of action arising October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, rising 15,000 dollars each October 1.
Medical-malpractice cap: Medical-malpractice non-economic damages capped at 920,000 dollars for causes of action arising in calendar 2026, rising 15,000 dollars each January 1.

The rules an adjuster applies in Maryland

Statute of limitations: 3 years

A civil action at law must be filed within three years from the date it accrues unless another provision of the Code sets a different period, under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. section 5-101. Ordinary personal injury runs on that general rule. Three things displace it. A medical malpractice claim runs on section 5-109 instead, which requires filing within the earlier of five years of the time the injury was committed or three years of the date the injury was discovered. A wrongful death action runs on section 3-904(g), three years after the death of the injured person rather than three years after the injury. And a claim against any Maryland government body carries a one-year notice deadline that sits on top of the filing period and has nothing to do with it. All three are set out below. Three years is a year longer than Virginia allows and matches the North Carolina filing period, the only other contributory state that gives claimants three years rather than two. It reads as comfortable, and it is, until an adjuster is still requesting records in month 30 and a pending negotiation has done nothing to stop the clock. A demand letter sent that late leaves no room to file if the answer comes back as a lowball or a denial. (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-101&enactments=false)

Negligence rule: pure contributory (any fault bars you)

A plaintiff found even 1% at fault recovers nothing, which is the contributory negligence bar in its undiluted form. Maryland is one of only four states, plus Washington DC, that still applies the rule, alongside Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia. Every other state has moved to one of the comparative rules, which reduce an award rather than erase it, and how the fault rules differ by state sets the two systems side by side. The practical consequence is that fault, not injury severity, is the whole negotiation here. An adjuster who cannot beat the medical records will spend the file hunting for the moment the injured person stepped off a curb without looking, drove with a burned-out tail light, or crossed against a signal, because 1% is all the insurer needs. Everything else on this page, the caps, the deadlines and the arithmetic, only starts to matter once the liability argument has been closed off. (source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/comparative_negligence)

Worked example: what 30% fault does to a 60,000 dollar claim

Take a claim an adjuster values at 60,000 dollars gross, with 30% of the blame put on you. In Washington state, which is pure comparative, you keep 70% and the claim is worth 42,000 dollars. Under Indiana injury rules, which bar a plaintiff only above 50% fault, 30% is comfortably under the line and the claim is still worth 42,000 dollars. In Maryland it is worth nothing, and it is worth nothing under Alabama injury rules too, which apply the identical bar. Cut your share to 1% and almost nothing changes elsewhere, 59,400 dollars in both Washington and Indiana, while Maryland still pays zero. Push it the other way to 55% and the two comparative systems finally separate: Washington pays 27,000 dollars, Indiana pays nothing because the plaintiff is now over the bar, and Maryland pays nothing for exactly the same reason it paid nothing at 1%. There is no sliding scale in Maryland and no partial credit, so the shared-fault arithmetic that governs most of the country describes a mechanism that simply does not exist here.

General damages cap: 965,000 dollars, and it moves every October 1

Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. section 11-108 caps non-economic damages, meaning pain, suffering, disfigurement and loss of consortium rather than bills and wages. The figure is indexed rather than fixed. The statute set 350,000 dollars for causes of action arising on or after July 1, 1986, raised it to 500,000 dollars for causes arising on or after October 1, 1994, and then provided that the limitation increases by 15,000 dollars on October 1 of each year beginning October 1, 1995, with the increased amount applying to causes of action arising between that October 1 and the following September 30. Carrying that arithmetic forward gives the band in force now: 500,000 plus 15,000 multiplied by 31 annual steps, so 965,000 dollars for a cause of action arising between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026. On October 1, 2026 the band becomes 980,000 dollars. The limitation applies to each direct victim of the tortious conduct and to every person claiming injury by or through that victim, so a spouse's consortium claim shares the same ceiling rather than getting one of its own. Nothing caps economic damages, so medical bills, lost earnings and future care are recovered in full and only the non-economic component meets the ceiling. That is the mechanism described in how a damage cap works, and the personal injury calculator applies the Maryland figure once you select the state. (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=11-108&enactments=false)

Two caps, two anniversaries: October 1 and January 1

Maryland runs two indexed caps on two different calendars, and confusing them is the most common way a Maryland valuation goes wrong. The general cap in section 11-108 steps up every October 1 and governs a band running October 1 to September 30. The malpractice cap in section 3-2A-09 steps up every January 1 and governs a calendar year. Section 11-108(e) keeps them apart: for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2005, section 11-108 does not apply to a verdict under Title 3, Subtitle 2A, which is the malpractice track. So an ordinary injury on September 29, 2025 is capped at 950,000 dollars while the identical injury on October 2, 2025 is capped at 965,000 dollars, and a malpractice injury in December 2025 is capped at 905,000 dollars while the same error in January 2026 is capped at 920,000 dollars. In every case the date that decides the band is the date the cause of action arose, not the date the complaint was filed, the case settled or the cheque cleared. (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=11-108&enactments=false) (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=3-2A-09&enactments=false)

Medical-malpractice cap: 920,000 dollars, and it is an aggregate

Malpractice runs on Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. section 3-2A-09 for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2005. The base was 650,000 dollars for causes arising between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2008 inclusive, increasing by 15,000 dollars on January 1 of each year beginning January 1, 2009, with the increased figure applying to causes arising during that calendar year. Carried forward, a cause of action arising during calendar 2026 is capped at 920,000 dollars, which is 650,000 plus 15,000 multiplied by 18 annual steps. Then comes the part that is unusual even among capped states. The malpractice limitation applies IN THE AGGREGATE to all claims for personal injury and wrongful death arising from the same medical injury, regardless of the number of claims, claimants, plaintiffs, beneficiaries or defendants. One ceiling is shared by everyone that medical injury touched, so adding defendants or family claimants does not add capacity, which is the opposite of how most people assume a cap works. Where a wrongful death action has two or more claimants, the total non-economic damages for all actions may not exceed 125% of the limitation, which is 1,150,000 dollars in the 2026 band. (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=3-2A-09&enactments=false)

Past medical expenses: only what was paid, or what is owed

Section 3-2A-09(d)(1) limits a malpractice verdict for past medical expenses to two things: the total amount of past medical expenses paid by or on behalf of the plaintiff, and the total incurred but not paid for which the plaintiff or someone on their behalf is obligated to pay. That sentence quietly deletes a number many claimants assume is theirs, the gap between what a hospital billed and what anybody was ever obligated to pay. A 90,000 dollar billed charge that an insurer settled for 22,000 dollars with the balance written off supports a 22,000 dollar past-medical claim in a Maryland malpractice case, not a 90,000 dollar one. Anyone totalling bills with the medical expenses calculator should run the paid-or-obligated version of that number alongside the billed version before deciding what a Maryland malpractice claim is worth. The same subsection lets the court, on its own motion or a party's, employ a neutral expert witness on future medical expenses or future loss of earnings, with the cost divided equally among the parties unless they agree otherwise. (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=3-2A-09&enactments=false)

Medical malpractice procedure: the office, then the 90-day certificate

A Maryland malpractice claim does not begin in circuit court. Section 3-2A-04(a)(1) requires the claim to be filed with the Director of the Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office, which then has the health care provider served. Section 3-2A-04(b)(1)(i) supplies the gate that kills unprepared claims: unless the sole issue is lack of informed consent, a claim or action filed after July 1, 1986 shall be dismissed, without prejudice, if the claimant fails to file a certificate of a qualified expert with the Director attesting both to a departure from standards of care and to that departure being the proximate cause of the alleged injury, within 90 days from the date of the complaint. In place of dismissal the panel chairman or the court shall grant one extension of no more than 90 days where the limitations period has already expired and the failure was neither willful nor the result of gross negligence. The attesting expert must have devoted no more than 25% of their professional activities to testifying in personal injury claims in the 12 months before the claim was first filed, may not be a party, and may not be a party's employee, partner or the employee or stockholder of a party's professional corporation. Filing with the office counts as filing an action for limitations purposes under section 5-109(d), which is what stops the two tracks colliding. A certificate carrying a standard-of-care and proximate-cause opinion, obtained inside 90 days, is not something a claimant assembles alone, which is why when to hire a personal injury lawyer is barely an open question in a Maryland malpractice case. (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=3-2A-04&enactments=false) (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-109&enactments=false)

Suing the State: notice in 1 year, and a 400,000 dollar ceiling

The Maryland Tort Claims Act runs on its own clock and its own ceiling. A claimant must deliver a claim letter to the Maryland State Treasurer within one year of the date the injury occurred, under Md. Code, State Government section 12-106. Missing that year is not automatically fatal: the State may move to dismiss, but it has to prove that its ability to defend the case was damaged by the late filing, and the court decides. The ceiling is the harder number. Under Md. Code, State Government section 12-104 the State cannot be held liable to any one person for more than 400,000 dollars for injuries arising from a single incident, with higher limits for an intentional tort, for a violation of a constitutional right committed by a law enforcement officer, and for injury resulting from sexual abuse. On a catastrophic injury caused by a state vehicle or a state employee, that 400,000 dollars, not the 965,000 dollar non-economic cap, is the number that actually binds the recovery. (source: https://www.peoples-law.org/suing-state-maryland-maryland-transit-administration-or-local-government-maryland-tort-claims-acts)

Suing a county or city: same year, different envelope

The Local Government Tort Claims Act uses the same one-year notice period, under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. section 5-304(c)(3), but the address changes with the defendant, and sending it to the wrong office is not the same as sending it. In Baltimore City the claim letter goes to the City Solicitor. In Howard County or Montgomery County it goes to the County Executive. In Anne Arundel, Baltimore County, Frederick, Harford or Prince George's County it goes to the County Solicitor or County Attorney. In any other county it goes to the County Commissioners or County Council, and for any other local government it goes to the corporate authorities. The ceiling under section 5-303 is 400,000 dollars to any one person, and 800,000 dollars in total for injuries arising from a single incident. That total matters more than it looks: one incident that injures several people can exhaust the 800,000 dollars between them long before any single claimant reaches their own 400,000 dollar limit. (source: https://www.peoples-law.org/suing-state-maryland-maryland-transit-administration-or-local-government-maryland-tort-claims-acts)

The Maryland Transit Administration: a third regime, and no cap

A crash involving an MTA vehicle falls under neither of the other two acts. The claim letter goes to the MTA within one year, under Md. Code, Transportation section 7-702, and there is no cap on the amount the MTA may be required to pay under the MTA Tort Claims Act, though section 11-108 still limits the non-economic share. That makes the MTA the one Maryland public defendant whose exposure is not capped at a few hundred thousand dollars: economic damages, meaning bills, lost earnings and future care, are recovered without a statutory ceiling while pain and suffering still meets the 965,000 dollar band. Three government defendants, three notice recipients, three ceilings and one shared one-year deadline is the single most useful thing to know before writing to anybody. (source: https://www.peoples-law.org/suing-state-maryland-maryland-transit-administration-or-local-government-maryland-tort-claims-acts)

Injured children: two different tolling rules

Section 5-201 gives a minor or a mentally incompetent person the lesser of three years or the applicable limitation period after the date the disability is removed, so an ordinary injury claim by a child generally runs to their 21st birthday. Subsection (b) is the catch: the extension does not apply where the statute of limitations still has more than three years to run when the disability is removed. Imprisonment, absence from the State and marriage are expressly not disabilities. Malpractice is far tighter and runs on section 5-109 instead. Where the claimant was under 11 when the injury was committed, the five-year and three-year periods do not start until the claimant reaches 11, which puts the outside deadline at roughly their 16th birthday. Two categories get longer: an injury to the claimant's reproductive system, and an injury caused by a foreign object negligently left in the body. For those, a claimant who was under 16 when the injury was committed starts the clock at 16, pushing the five-year outside limit to about their 21st birthday. (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-201&enactments=false) (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-109&enactments=false)

No-fault: no, but your own policy may carry 2,500 dollars of PIP

Maryland is an at-fault (tort) state, so an injured person pursues the at-fault driver's liability insurer rather than being routed into their own coverage. Maryland does require first-party coverage to be offered on top of that. Under Md. Code, Insurance section 19-505, every motor vehicle liability policy issued, sold or delivered in the State must provide medical, hospital and disability benefits of at least 2,500 dollars unless the coverage is waived under section 19-506 or rejected under section 19-506.1. Those benefits cover reasonable and necessary expenses incurred within three years of the accident, 85% of income lost within three years by someone who was earning when the crash happened, and reimbursement for essential household services where the injured person was not earning. They reach the first named insured and resident family members, permissive users, guests and passengers, and a pedestrian struck by the insured vehicle. Whether any of it is actually there depends on whether a waiver was signed, so the declarations page is worth reading before assuming the first 2,500 dollars of treatment is covered. The car accident settlement calculator values the liability claim, which is the separate and much larger question. (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-505&enactments=false)

Wrongful death: 3 years from the death, and 150% of the cap

A Maryland wrongful death action is brought for the benefit of the wife, husband, parent and child of the deceased under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. section 3-904(a)(1), and where nobody in that class exists, for any person related by blood or marriage who was substantially dependent on the deceased. Only one action lies in respect of one death. The deadline is three years after the death, not three years after the injury, with a longer window where an occupational disease caused the death and a discovery rule where knowledge of a criminal homicide was kept from the family. Damages are not limited by the pecuniary loss rule and may include mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, and loss of society, companionship, comfort, protection and parental or filial care, the same relational losses that a loss of consortium claim covers when the injured person survives. The cap moves for these claims: under section 11-108(b)(3)(ii), where a wrongful death action has two or more claimants or beneficiaries the non-economic total may not exceed 150% of the limitation regardless of how many claimants there are, which works out at 1,447,500 dollars in the band running to September 30, 2026. In malpractice the equivalent uplift is only 125%, so 1,150,000 dollars for calendar 2026. The wrongful death settlement calculator builds a figure from those components. (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=3-904&enactments=false) (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=11-108&enactments=false) (source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=3-2A-09&enactments=false)

Estimate a Maryland settlement

Preset to Maryland rules. The pure contributory negligence rule is applied automatically.

Claim inputs

Live

Accident type

Sets the rules and multiplier baseline

State

Type a name or code. Each option shows the rule it applies.

Documented damages

Medical expenses

Past treatment, ER, imaging, PT

Lost wages

Time off work, partial included

Injury and fault

Injury severity2.5x multiplier

Drives the multiplier applied to economic damages

Your share of fault0%

Comparative-negligence reduction. Pure-contributory states (NC, VA, AL, MD, DC): any fault means $0.

Documented

Economic damages

$9,700

Medical bills plus lost wages

2.5x

Non-economic damages

$24,250

Pain and suffering, before caps

0% fault

Deductions

Comparative fault and state caps

Net

Likely settlement

$33,950

The fair target you counter with

Negotiation range

Low, likely, high

Insurer's likely first offer

$16,975

Decline this

Fair settlement target

$33,950

Counter at this

Maximum reasonable

$57,715

Demand letter ceiling

$16,975$57,715

What the settlement is made of

Net settlement$33,950

Economic damages kept$9,70029%
Pain and suffering kept$24,25071%
Removed by fault and caps$00%

The ring is the gross claim of $33,950. The two kept arcs sum to the net figure in the centre, and the red arc is what comparative fault and statutory caps take away.

Settlement breakdown

Gross $33,950

Settlement breakdown from economic damages through reductions to the likely settlement.
Component	Amount	Share
Medical expenses	$6,500	19.1%
Lost wages	$3,200	9.4%
Economic damages	$9,700	28.6%
Pain and suffering (2.5x economic)	$24,250	71.4%
Comparative-fault reduction (0%)	$0	0.0%
Likely settlement	$33,950	100.0%

Share is measured against the gross claim of $33,950. Method: multiplier method, industry standard. Estimate for negotiation, not legal advice.

Rules applied

Negligence rule: Pure contributory negligence
Statute of limitations: 3 years
Non-economic cap: $965,000
Method: Multiplier, 2.5x

Estimate only, not legal advice. The legal rules this calculator applies, each state's statute of limitations, comparative-negligence rule, and damage caps, are taken from official state statutes and US government sources by the team who researches and reviews this site, and every figure is cited inline so you can check it against the original. The multiplier method itself is the industry-standard approach bodily-injury adjusters use internally to set claim reserves, so treat the result as a negotiating benchmark rather than a promise: a real settlement still moves with insurer behavior, the strength of your evidence, and the jurisdiction you file in. Your figures stay on your device. Nothing you type is sent to a server, logged, or shared, and it clears when you close the tab. Take these numbers to a personal-injury attorney licensed in your state before you accept or reject any offer, especially for catastrophic injury or amounts above $50,000.

Maryland settlement questions

How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in Maryland?

Three years from the date the cause of action accrues, under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. section 5-101. Medical malpractice runs on section 5-109 instead, the earlier of five years from when the injury was committed or three years from when it was discovered, and a claim against any Maryland government body needs a written notice within one year on top of the filing deadline.

Does being partly at fault bar my Maryland claim?

Yes, completely. Maryland is one of only four states, plus Washington DC, that still uses pure contributory negligence, so a finding that you were even 1% at fault ends the claim. In a contested Maryland file, fault rather than injury severity is usually the whole negotiation.

What is the cap on pain and suffering in Maryland?

965,000 dollars for a cause of action arising between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026. Section 11-108 set 500,000 dollars for causes arising on or after October 1, 1994 and adds 15,000 dollars every October 1 from 1995, so the current band is 500,000 plus 31 annual steps. It becomes 980,000 dollars on October 1, 2026. Economic damages, meaning bills and lost income, are not capped at all.

What is the medical malpractice cap in Maryland?

920,000 dollars for a cause of action arising in calendar 2026, under section 3-2A-09: 650,000 dollars for causes arising from 2005 through 2008, plus 15,000 dollars for each January 1 from 2009, which is 18 steps. It is an aggregate cap, applying to all claims for personal injury and wrongful death arising from the same medical injury regardless of how many claimants or defendants there are, so extra parties do not create extra capacity.

What is a 60,000 dollar Maryland claim worth if I was 30% at fault?

Nothing. Contributory negligence bars it outright. The same claim is worth 42,000 dollars in Washington state, which is pure comparative, and 42,000 dollars in Indiana, where the bar only falls above 50% fault. Even at 1% fault Maryland pays zero while both of those states pay 59,400 dollars.

Does the jury hear about the Maryland damages cap?

No. Section 11-108(d)(1) provides that in a jury trial the jury may not be informed of the limitation, and section 3-2A-09(c)(1) says the same for the malpractice cap. The jury returns whatever figure it thinks is right, and if that figure exceeds the cap the court reduces the award to conform. That is why a headline Maryland verdict in a news story is often not the amount anybody was actually paid.

How long do I have to sue a Maryland city, county or state agency?

One year to give notice in every case, but to three different places. A claim against the State goes to the Maryland State Treasurer, with a 400,000 dollar ceiling per person for a single incident. A claim against a local government goes to the City Solicitor in Baltimore City, the County Executive in Howard or Montgomery County, the County Solicitor or County Attorney in Anne Arundel, Baltimore County, Frederick, Harford or Prince George's County, and the County Commissioners or County Council elsewhere, with a 400,000 dollar per person and 800,000 dollar total ceiling. A claim against the Maryland Transit Administration goes to the MTA and carries no cap on the amount payable.

Is Maryland a no-fault car insurance state?

No. Maryland is an at-fault state, so you claim against the at-fault driver's liability insurer. Every motor vehicle liability policy issued in Maryland must include at least 2,500 dollars of personal injury protection benefits under Md. Code, Insurance section 19-505 unless the insured waived or rejected the coverage. That coverage is first-party and pays without a fault determination, but its 2,500 dollar minimum is small next to the liability claim it sits alongside.

About the editorial team

PersonalInjuryCalculator.us Editorial Team

Research and Editorial Team

The PersonalInjuryCalculator.us editorial team documents how US insurance carriers value personal-injury claims and turns that into plain-English calculators and explainers. Every dollar range, multiplier, filing deadline, and damages cap published here is traced back to a named source. The team is not a law firm and includes no attorneys, so nothing on this site is legal advice. Speak with a licensed attorney in your state for serious or contested cases.

Last reviewed 2026-08-18 · Read full bio