Maryland's rule: any fault at all bars the entire claim
Maryland is one of a genuinely small group of American jurisdictions that still applies pure contributory negligence. Under this rule, if a claimant is found to have contributed any fault at all to their own injury — even a single percentage point — they are barred from recovering anything, regardless of how overwhelmingly at fault the other party was. There is no partial recovery, no proportional reduction, and no percentage-based formula. The question is binary: any fault, or none.
Why this makes Maryland genuinely different from most states
In the vast majority of states, a claimant who is, say, 15% at fault simply recovers 85% of their damages. In Maryland, that same claimant recovers nothing at all. This isn't a matter of degree — it's a completely different legal framework, and it's the single most important thing to understand about pursuing an injury claim in Maryland.
Maryland's highest court has considered, and kept, this rule
Maryland's highest court has been directly asked to abandon contributory negligence in favor of some form of comparative fault, and declined to do so, leaving any such change to the legislature. Legislative efforts to change the rule by statute have also not succeeded. As a result, Maryland remains one of just five American jurisdictions — alongside Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia — still operating this way.
A narrow exception: last clear chance
Maryland does recognize a limited doctrine called "last clear chance," which can sometimes allow a claimant to recover despite their own negligence — but only where the defendant had a later, clear opportunity to avoid the harm and failed to take it. This is a genuinely narrow exception, not a general escape valve from the contributory negligence rule, and it applies only in specific factual circumstances.
Why the fight over "any fault at all" is everything here
Because the entire claim turns on a binary finding rather than a percentage, insurers in Maryland have an enormous incentive to find any basis at all for attributing even minimal fault to a claimant. See our guide to how Maryland adjusters build a fault argument for what that fight actually looks like in practice.