A rising cap on pain and suffering
Under Courts and Judicial Proceedings §11-108, noneconomic damages for personal injury and wrongful death (outside medical malpractice) were limited to $500,000 for causes of action arising on or after October 1, 1994, and the limit has risen by $15,000 every October 1 since. The Department of Legislative Services puts the figure at $980,000 as of October 1, 2026; the cap that applies depends on when the cause of action arose, not when you sue. A 2026 bill to repeal the cap did not pass. Medical malpractice has its own, lower cap under §3-2A-09.
The bigger obstacle is the fault rule. Maryland is one of five jurisdictions that retain contributory negligence: if your own negligence played any part, you recover nothing — there is no 50% or 51% threshold.