State guide · Northeast
Maryland subrogation law guide
Any negligence by the claimant that contributed to the loss bars recovery entirely, subject to the narrow last clear chance doctrine. Maryland's high court reaffirmed the rule in 2013 and left any change to the General Assembly.
Maryland at a glanceMD
- Property damage
- 3 years
- Bodily injury
- 3 years
- Fault rule
- Pure contributory
- Gov. notice
- 365 days
Overview
Maryland remains one of the few pure contributory negligence jurisdictions: any insured fault that contributed to the loss bars recovery, and the state's high court declined to change the rule in Coleman v. Soccer Ass'n of Columbia (2013), leaving reform to a General Assembly that has not acted. That single rule shapes subrogation more than any deadline. Evidence about the insured's own conduct decides whether a file has value, and the last clear chance doctrine offers only a narrow escape. The limitation period is a uniform 3 years for property damage, bodily injury and contract claims under Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101. Public entity claims require written notice within 1 year under the Local Government Tort Claims Act and the Maryland Tort Claims Act. Joint and several liability survives, so one solvent tortfeasor can answer for the full loss. Property carriers benefit from Stancil v. Erie, which rejected the made-whole doctrine for homeowner's insurance. PIP carriers have no subrogation right under Ins. § 19-507, but auto physical damage claims between insurers must be arbitrated under a state mandate dating to 1994. Tenant fire claims turn on the lease and the parties' reasonable expectations under Rausch v. Allstate.
Quick reference with citations
- Property damage SOL
- 3 years
- Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101
- Bodily injury SOL
- 3 years
- Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101
- Product liability
- 3 years from accrual under the discovery rule (Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101); Maryland has no product statute of repose. Claims tied to improvements to real property face the separate repose periods of § 5-108.
- Written contract
- 3 years
- Contract and indemnity recoveries
- Comparative fault rule
- Pure contributory
- Harrison v. Montgomery County Bd. of Educ., 295 Md. 442, 456 A.2d 894 (1983); Coleman v. Soccer Ass'n of Columbia, 432 Md. 679, 69 A.3d 1149 (2013)
- Government notice of claim
- 365 days
- Local Government Tort Claims Act: written notice to the local government within 1 year after the injury for causes of action arising on or after October 1, 2015 (Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-304); earlier claims had 180 days. Maryland Tort Claims Act: a written claim to the State Treasurer or designee within 1 year after the injury, and suit within 3 years (Md. Code, State Gov't § 12-106).
Fault rule in practice
How Maryland's rule changes a $50,000 recovery.
Any negligence by the claimant that contributed to the loss bars recovery entirely, subject to the narrow last clear chance doctrine. Maryland's high court reaffirmed the rule in 2013 and left any change to the General Assembly.
Authority: Harrison v. Montgomery County Bd. of Educ., 295 Md. 442, 456 A.2d 894 (1983); Coleman v. Soccer Ass'n of Columbia, 432 Md. 679, 69 A.3d 1149 (2013)
| Insured's share of fault | Recoverable in MD | Under pure comparative |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | $50,000 | $50,000 |
| 20% | Barred | $40,000 |
| 50% | Barred | $25,000 |
| 60% | Barred | $20,000 |
Doctrines that move the number
Maryland doctrine checklist.
Made-whole doctrine
Maryland rejected the made-whole doctrine for property insurance: in Stancil v. Erie Ins. Co., 740 A.2d 46 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1999), the homeowner's insurer that paid policy limits on a fire was entitled to subrogation before its underinsured insured was made whole. The court distinguished health insurance, so expect the doctrine to be argued on medical reimbursement claims.
Economic loss doctrine
Maryland bars tort recovery of purely economic loss unless the defect creates a clear, serious and unreasonable risk of death or personal injury (Council of Co-Owners Atlantis Condominium v. Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., 308 Md. 18, 517 A.2d 336 (1986); A.J. Decoster Co. v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 333 Md. 245, 634 A.2d 1330 (1994)). Physical damage to other property remains recoverable.
Joint and several liability
Maryland retains joint and several liability among concurrent tortfeasors, with contribution governed by the Uniform Contribution Among Joint Tort-Feasors Act (Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. §§ 3-1401 to 3-1409). A release of one tortfeasor reduces the claim against the others by the consideration paid or any greater amount the release provides.
Anti-subrogation and waiver
Maryland decides landlord-tenant subrogation from the lease as a whole and the parties' reasonable expectations. Where the landlord agreed to carry fire insurance, subrogation against the tenant may be barred, and in multi-unit buildings a court may find the parties expected the landlord's policy to cover damage beyond the leased unit (Rausch v. Allstate Ins. Co., 388 Md. 690, 882 A.2d 801 (2005)).
Practice notes
Working Maryland subrogation files.
- 1
Screen the insured's conduct first. In a contributory negligence state, a recovery file is only as good as the evidence that the insured did nothing wrong: speed, following distance, lookout, maintenance of the failed system, compliance with a contractor's warnings. Pull the police report, event data and maintenance records before investing in damages work, and document the adverse party's last clear chance where the insured's negligence is arguable.
- 2
Fault math example: a fictional Annapolis insured's $25,000 collision claim arises from an intersection crash in which the other driver entered on a stale yellow light but the insured braked late. If a fact-finder assigns even 5% of the fault to the insured, a comparative fault state would still allow $23,750; Maryland allows nothing. Joint and several liability helps only once the insured is found fault-free.
- 3
Public entity claims carry a 1-year notice under the Local Government Tort Claims Act for injuries since October 1, 2015, and a 1-year written claim to the State Treasurer under the Maryland Tort Claims Act. Notice must reach the correct county or municipal official, and both statutes cap damages. Run the public-entity check at intake, since a county bus or city water main changes both the deadline and the recovery ceiling.
- 4
Split auto coverages at intake. PIP benefits paid under a Maryland policy carry no subrogation right (Ins. § 19-507), so PIP spend should be excluded from recovery targets, while collision and property damage remain recoverable from the at-fault party. Because Stancil rejected the made-whole doctrine for property insurance, the carrier can pursue its paid property loss even while the insured's own uninsured loss claim remains open.
- 5
Ishqkala treats Maryland as a binary liability state: any insured-fault indicator extracted from police narratives or diary notes, such as a citation, an admitted distraction or an ignored warning, routes the file to counsel review instead of reducing the score by a percentage. Alerts run at 1,095 days for private-party claims and 365 days when a public entity appears in the narrative.
Key cases
Coleman v. Soccer Ass'n of Columbia
432 Md. 679, 69 A.3d 1149 (2013)
Declined to replace contributory negligence with comparative fault and deferred to the General Assembly, so any insured fault still bars a Maryland subrogation recovery.
Stancil v. Erie Ins. Co.
740 A.2d 46 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1999)
Allowed a homeowner's insurer that paid policy limits for a fire to pursue subrogation before the underinsured insured was made whole, rejecting the made-whole doctrine for property insurance.
Rausch v. Allstate Ins. Co.
388 Md. 690, 882 A.2d 801 (2005)
Adopted a lease-based reasonable expectations test for whether a landlord's insurer may subrogate against a tenant, and limited tenant exposure for damage beyond the leased premises in multi-unit buildings absent a clear contrary provision.
Inter-company arbitration
Maryland requires authorized auto insurers to arbitrate motor vehicle physical damage claims between them through Arbitration Forums, Inc. or another intercompany program chosen by the requesting insurer, a mandate dating to a 1994 amendment of former Article 48A, § 547. AF guidance directs arbitrators to apply the governing negligence law, so expect respondents to argue contributory negligence on any insured fault. Within AF, compulsory jurisdiction runs to $100,000 in total company-paid damages per claim.
How Ishqkala applies this guide
MD rules, built into every score.
- Opportunities with a Maryland loss state are calendared against the 3 years property damage period or the 3 years bodily injury period, whichever controls the claim type.
- The insured's estimated fault share is applied under pure contributory before recoverable dollars are scored.
- Files involving a public entity get a 365-day notice deadline that outranks the general SOL in the priority queue.
- Alerts fire at 180, 90, 45 and 15 days before the controlling deadline.
Other pure contributory jurisdictions
FAQ
Maryland subrogation FAQ
3 years (Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101). A subrogating carrier generally takes the insured's claim subject to the same limitation period, usually measured from the date of loss.
Pure contributory (Harrison v. Montgomery County Bd. of Educ., 295 Md. 442, 456 A.2d 894 (1983); Coleman v. Soccer Ass'n of Columbia, 432 Md. 679, 69 A.3d 1149 (2013)). Any negligence by the claimant that contributed to the loss bars recovery entirely, subject to the narrow last clear chance doctrine. Maryland's high court reaffirmed the rule in 2013 and left any change to the General Assembly.
Local Government Tort Claims Act: written notice to the local government within 1 year after the injury for causes of action arising on or after October 1, 2015 (Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-304); earlier claims had 180 days. Maryland Tort Claims Act: a written claim to the State Treasurer or designee within 1 year after the injury, and suit within 3 years (Md. Code, State Gov't § 12-106).
Maryland rejected the made-whole doctrine for property insurance: in Stancil v. Erie Ins. Co., 740 A.2d 46 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1999), the homeowner's insurer that paid policy limits on a fire was entitled to subrogation before its underinsured insured was made whole. The court distinguished health insurance, so expect the doctrine to be argued on medical reimbursement claims.
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