Fault System (No-Fault vs At-Fault) in Maryland

Maryland handles crashes under an at-fault system, not no-fault, and pairs it with strict contributory negligence. Here is exactly how fault, PIP, UM/UIM, and the deadlines work under Maryland law.

ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial
Jul 6, 2026
6 min read

Fault system (no-fault vs at-fault) in Maryland

If another driver hit you in Maryland, the first practical question is who pays for your injuries and your car. The short answer: Maryland is an at-fault state, so the driver who caused the crash, and that driver's insurer, is responsible for the harm. Maryland has never adopted a true no-fault system, so you are not locked into your own policy for injury compensation the way drivers in Florida or Michigan are.

That distinction carries more weight here than in most states, because Maryland pairs its at-fault rule with one of the harshest fault doctrines in the country. Get the details wrong and a valid claim can collapse over a small share of blame.

Crashes are not rare events you can plan around. In Montgomery County alone, police logged 898 reported crashes in a single month, May 2025.1 Every one of them started the same clock and the same set of rules described below.

Maryland is an at-fault state

Under an at-fault (tort) system, the person who caused the collision owes for the damage. You have three basic paths to recover after a Maryland crash: file a claim against the at-fault driver's liability insurer, file with your own insurer under coverages you bought, or file a lawsuit. There is no true no-fault framework that funnels every injury claim back to your own policy; Maryland's own Personal Injury Protection coverage is optional rather than mandatory, which is the clearest sign the state rejected the no-fault model.2

Maryland requires every driver to carry liability insurance so there is a source of payment when they cause a wreck. The minimum limits are 30/60/15: $30,000 for bodily injury to one person, $60,000 total when two or more people are hurt, and $15,000 for property damage.3 Those figures have not increased in more than a decade, and they fall far short of a serious injury bill, which is why the coverages in the next sections matter.

The one no-fault-style piece, PIP

Maryland does have a limited slice of no-fault coverage called Personal Injury Protection, or PIP. It pays your medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the crash, so you are not waiting on a fault determination before you can get treatment. But it works differently than people expect.

Insurers must offer at least $2,500 in PIP. It covers reasonable medical expenses, 85% of lost income, funeral costs, and essential household services for up to three years after the accident.2 The catch is that PIP is not required of you. The named insured can waive it in writing or reject it outright.4 Plenty of Maryland drivers signed that waiver years ago to shave a few dollars off a premium and never think about it again until they are hurt.

If you kept PIP, watch the deadlines. Your policy can require you to file the original claim within a period of not less than 12 months after the accident, and once you submit satisfactory proof of loss, the insurer has 30 days to pay. Overdue PIP benefits carry simple interest at 1.5% per month.5 PIP does not reduce what you can still recover from the at-fault driver. It is a separate, faster pool of money that sits on top of your fault claim.

Contributory negligence, the Maryland trap

Here is the rule that catches injured people off guard. Maryland is one of only a few jurisdictions that still applies pure contributory negligence. If you are found even 1% at fault for the crash, you can be barred from recovering anything from the other driver.

Maryland's highest court reaffirmed this in Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia, 432 Md. 679 (2013), when it declined to abandon contributory negligence for the comparative-fault standard most states use.6 The effect is blunt. An insurer that can pin a sliver of blame on you, say you were a little over the limit or glanced at your phone or could have braked sooner, has a reason to deny the claim entirely instead of just discounting it.

This is why what you say at the scene and to an adjuster matters so much in Maryland. A casual "I never saw them" can become the hook for a contributory-negligence defense. State the facts, get medical care, and be careful about giving a recorded statement before you understand your position.

Uninsured and underinsured drivers

Because minimum limits are low and some drivers carry none at all, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) is often what decides whether a badly hurt person is made whole. Maryland makes it mandatory. Every private passenger auto liability policy must include UM/UIM coverage equal to your bodily injury liability limits.7 The one way it drops below that is if the named insured signs a written waiver reducing it.8

So if you carry only the 30/60 minimum, you also carry $30,000/$60,000 in UM/UIM unless you waived down in writing. When the at-fault driver has no insurance, or not enough to cover what they did to you, this is the coverage you fall back on. It is worth pulling out your declarations page now to see what you actually have.

Deadlines you cannot miss

You generally have three years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit for your injuries. That is the general Maryland statute of limitations for civil actions, and it applies to car accident injury claims.9 Maryland has no separate, shorter deadline for vehicle damage, so the same three years covers a property-damage suit.9

Three years can feel like forever right after a wreck, but investigation, treatment, and back-and-forth with an adjuster burn through it fast. Miss the deadline and the court will almost certainly dismiss the case no matter how clear the other driver's fault was.

What you can actually recover

Because Maryland is a tort state, you can pursue the full range of damages from the at-fault driver: medical bills, lost income, vehicle repair, and noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering. Economic and punitive damages are not capped. Noneconomic damages are. For causes of action arising through September 30, 2026, the cap is $965,000, and it rises to $980,000 on October 1, 2026, climbing $15,000 every October 1.10 In a wrongful death case with two or more beneficiaries, the cap is 150% of that figure, reaching $1,470,000 on October 1, 2026.10 A 2026 bill to repeal the cap, HB 476, did not pass.

Practical next steps

Get the police report. It is the baseline record of what happened and who the responding officer believed was at fault. You can request a Maryland crash report through the state's crash-report system.11

Document your vehicle early. If your car was fairly new, its resale value may have dropped even after a clean repair, and that loss is its own claim. The Maryland diminished value guide walks through how that works.

If your injuries are more than minor, or an adjuster is already hinting that you share the blame, talk to a lawyer before you give any recorded statement. Contributory negligence leaves a thin margin for error in Maryland, and the early days shape the whole claim. You can find a Maryland attorney through the legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. thatcarhitme.com, Montgomery County, MD Crash Report, May 2025. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/maryland/montgomery-county/may-2025-report

  2. Md. Code, Insurance section 19-505 (required-but-waivable PIP coverage; minimum $2,500; medical, 85% wage loss, funeral, and essential services). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-505&enactments=false

  3. Md. Code, Transportation section 17-103 (minimum liability limits: $30,000/$60,000 bodily injury, $15,000 property damage). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gtr&section=17-103

  4. Md. Code, Insurance section 19-506.1 (rejection of PIP coverage by the named insured). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-506.1&enactments=false

  5. Md. Code, Insurance section 19-508 (PIP paid within 30 days of proof of claim; policy may set a filing period of not less than 12 months; 1.5% monthly interest on overdue benefits). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-508&enactments=false

  6. Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia, 432 Md. 679 (2013) (Maryland Court of Appeals reaffirming contributory negligence). https://www.mdcourts.gov/data/opinions/coa/2013/9a12.pdf

  7. Md. Code, Insurance section 19-509 (mandatory uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage equal to bodily injury liability limits). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-509&enactments=false

  8. Md. Code, Insurance section 19-510 (written waiver reducing UM/UIM coverage). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin&section=19-510&enactments=false

  9. Md. Code, Courts & Judicial Proceedings section 5-101 (general 3-year statute of limitations for civil actions). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-101&enactments=false

  10. Md. Code, Courts & Judicial Proceedings section 11-108 (noneconomic damages cap $980,000 as of October 1, 2026; wrongful death with two or more beneficiaries $1,470,000), per Department of Legislative Services Fiscal and Policy Note, HB 476, 2026 Session. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/fnotes/bil_0006/hb0476.pdf

  11. Maryland Department of State Police, Central Records Division, request police reports. https://mdsp.maryland.gov/community-services/request-police-reports

About This Guide

Written by: ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial

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