Fault system in Maine: no-fault vs at-fault after a crash

Maine is an at-fault state, also called a tort state. If another driver caused your crash, you deal with that driver directly: their negligence, their insurance, and, if the claim does not settle, their liability in court. There is no no-fault system here where each person's own policy pays for injuries no matter who was responsible. The Maine Bureau of Insurance describes third-party claims as paid "on the basis of comparative negligence," where damages "may be reduced by the extent to which your actions contributed to the accident."¹

That single label, at-fault, drives most of what follows: who pays your medical bills, how much you can collect, and what happens when the crash was partly your fault too.

How Maine splits the blame

Maine uses modified comparative negligence, set out in 14 M.R.S. § 156. You can still recover from the other driver if you were partly to blame, but only up to a point. The statute bars you completely if a jury finds you "equally at fault," so once your share reaches 50 percent you collect nothing.² In plain terms, you have to be less at fault than the driver you are suing.

Here is where Maine parts ways with most states. Instead of docking your damages by a fixed percentage, a Maine jury reduces the award "by dollars and cents, and not by percentage," to whatever extent it finds "just and equitable" given your role in the crash.² A jury in a strict-percentage state that puts you at 20 percent fault has to subtract exactly 20 percent. A Maine jury looking at the same facts has more room to set the number. That discretion runs both directions, and it means how the fault story gets told, not just the raw percentage, affects what you take home.

These fights are common in winter crashes. Maine gets heavy snow, with parts of the north averaging roughly 90 to 110 inches a year.³ Black ice, snowbanks that block sightlines, and long stopping distances turn into disputes over speed and following distance, and those are exactly the facts that pull an award down under § 156.

Paying medical bills before fault is sorted out

Because Maine has no no-fault PIP, nothing in your own policy automatically pays your full medical costs and lost wages while fault is being argued. What the state does require is a thin layer of medical payments coverage. Every standard personal auto policy has to include at least $2,000 per person in med-pay for costs incurred within one year of the crash, and you cannot reject it.⁴⁵ It pays regardless of who was at fault, which helps with the earliest bills. But $2,000 rarely covers a real injury, so the rest gets recovered through the at-fault driver's liability coverage or your own health insurance.

The coverage that funds your recovery

In an at-fault state you collect from the other driver's liability insurance, so their limits set the ceiling on what is easily available. Maine's mandatory minimums are $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage, usually written as 50/100/25.⁶⁵ Those floors are higher than in a lot of states, yet a serious injury can still run past a $50,000 per-person limit.

That is why uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage carries so much weight here. Maine requires UM/UIM on every auto policy, and by default it has to equal your own liability limits. You can set it lower only by signing a written rejection before the policy takes effect, and even then it cannot drop below the 50/100 floor.⁷⁵ If the driver who hit you had no insurance, or not enough to cover your injuries, your own UM/UIM fills the gap. It is often the coverage that decides whether a badly hurt person actually gets paid.

Vehicle damage follows the same at-fault logic. You claim the repair cost, and frequently the lost resale value, against the responsible driver. Maine's treatment of that lost value is covered on our diminished value in Maine page.

How long you have to file

Maine gives you a long window compared with most states. The statute of limitations for negligence claims, including car accident injury suits, is six years under 14 M.R.S. § 752.⁸ Property damage runs on the same six-year clock; the state does not carve out a shorter period for vehicle claims.⁸ Six years is generous, but sitting on a claim wastes it. Evidence goes missing, memories fade, and insurers read a stale claim as a weak one. Some reporting deadlines and special claims run much shorter, so treat the six-year figure as a backstop, not a plan.

When the at-fault driver was drunk

Fault can reach past the person behind the wheel. Under the Maine Liquor Liability Act, a bar, restaurant, or other server that negligently or recklessly serves a visibly intoxicated person who then causes a crash can be held liable. Damages other than medical expenses are capped at $350,000 per occurrence, and a claim against the server must be filed within two years, a much tighter deadline than the six-year rule for the driver.⁹

Against the drunk driver, punitive damages stay possible, but Maine sets a high bar. The plaintiff has to prove malice by clear and convincing evidence under Tuttle v. Raymond, and the court held that reckless conduct alone, including drunk driving, does not automatically clear that standard.¹⁰ In a fatal crash, wrongful death damages have their own ceilings: loss of comfort, society, and companionship is capped at $1,000,000 (adjusted each year for inflation), and punitive damages at $500,000, under 18-C M.R.S. § 2-807.¹¹

After the crash

Get the police report. In Maine, crash reports come from the Maine State Police through the state's online crash report ordering service, at $10 per report; our Maine crash report guide walks through it.¹² The report's fault notations and diagram often shape how an adjuster reads a comparative negligence dispute.

Because Maine ties your recovery to proving another driver's fault, and to how a jury weighs your own share, the strength of the fault case matters more than it would in a no-fault state. If your injuries are significant or fault is contested, it is worth talking to a Maine attorney; you can find one through our legal directory.

This article is general information about Maine law, not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, consult a licensed Maine attorney.

Sources

1. Maine Bureau of Insurance, Auto Claims FAQs. https://www.maine.gov/pfr/insurance/frequently-asked-questions/auto-claims

2. 14 M.R.S. § 156, Comparative negligence. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/14/title14sec156.html

3. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / NCICS, Maine State Climate Summary. https://statesummaries.ncics.org/chapter/me/

4. 29-A M.R.S. § 1605-A, Medical payments coverage. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/29-a/title29-Asec1605-A.html

5. Maine Bureau of Insurance, Insurance Required by Law. https://www.maine.gov/pfr/insurance/consumers/auto-insurance/insurance-required-by-law

6. 29-A M.R.S. § 1605, Required insurance coverages. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/29-a/title29-Asec1605.html

7. 24-A M.R.S. § 2902, Uninsured vehicle coverage. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/24-a/title24-Asec2902.html

8. 14 M.R.S. § 752, Six-year limitation on civil actions. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/14/title14sec752.html

9. 28-A M.R.S. § 2509, Maine Liquor Liability Act. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/28-a/title28-Asec2509.html

10. Tuttle v. Raymond, 494 A.2d 1353 (Me. 1985). https://law.justia.com/cases/maine/supreme-court/1985/494-a-2d-1353-0.html

11. 18-C M.R.S. § 2-807, Wrongful death damages. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/18-C/title18-Csec2-807.html

12. Maine Crash Reporting Online Search and Ordering Service, Maine State Police. https://apps1.web.maine.gov/online/mcrs/index.html