Maryland's Cap on Noneconomic Damages: The 2019 Figures and How They Apply
A Maryland jury can award an injured person whatever it finds fair for pain, suffering, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life. What most jurors never learn is that the number they write down may not survive the verdict: Maryland law caps "noneconomic" damages, and judges reduce awards above the cap automatically. As the year closes, here is where the numbers stand — and how the cap actually operates.
Two caps, two schedules
Maryland has not one cap but two, and they move on different clocks.
1. The general cap — CJP § 11-108. For ordinary injury cases (car crashes, falls, most wrongful death), the cap started at $500,000 for causes of action arising on or after October 1, 1994, and rises $15,000 every October 1. The date that matters is when the cause of action arose — generally the date of injury — not when suit is filed or tried.
2. The medical malpractice cap — CJP § 3-2A-09. Claims against health care providers have their own, lower cap on a calendar-year schedule, also rising $15,000 per year.
| Date of injury | General cap (§ 11-108) | Wrongful death, 2+ beneficiaries (150%) |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 1, 2017 – Sep. 30, 2018 | $845,000 | $1,267,500 |
| Oct. 1, 2018 – Sep. 30, 2019 | $860,000 | $1,290,000 |
| Oct. 1, 2019 – Sep. 30, 2020 | $875,000 | $1,312,500 |
| Year malpractice occurred | Med-mal cap (§ 3-2A-09) |
|---|---|
| 2018 | $800,000 |
| 2019 | $815,000 |
In medical malpractice cases, the cap applies in the aggregate to all claims arising from the same medical injury — personal injury and wrongful death combined, regardless of how many claimants or defendants there are — with a modest increase (to 125% of the cap) where a wrongful death claim involves two or more beneficiaries.
What the cap does — and does not — touch
The cap limits only noneconomic damages. It does not cap:
- Economic damages — medical expenses, lost wages, and lost earning capacity are unlimited. A catastrophic injury case with $4 million in life-care costs recovers all of it, cap notwithstanding.
- Property damage or interest.
Also important: the jury is never told the cap exists. Maryland law forbids informing jurors of the limitation; they deliberate on full value, and the court quietly reduces any excess afterward. Plaintiffs sometimes learn of this two-step only when a substantial verdict shrinks in the judgment.
A concrete example makes the mechanics clear. Suppose a driver badly injured in a November 2019 crash goes to trial in 2021, and the jury awards $600,000 in medical expenses and lost wages plus $1.5 million for pain, suffering, and permanent disability. The court will enter judgment for $600,000 in economic damages — untouched — plus $875,000 in noneconomic damages (the cap for injuries occurring between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020). The remaining $625,000 of the jury's noneconomic award simply disappears, and the jury will never know.
The policy fight, briefly
The cap was enacted in 1986 amid an insurance-crisis panic and has been sustained by Maryland's appellate courts since. Its critics — including this firm — note the arithmetic of unfairness: the cap bears hardest on those whose losses are mostly human rather than financial. A retiree, a child, or a stay-at-home parent with modest lost wages feels the cap's full force, while the same injury to a high earner is compensated far more completely through uncapped economic damages. Repeal bills appear in Annapolis regularly; none has yet passed.
What this means for injured people in Maryland
- The date of injury fixes your cap. An injury in September 2019 carries a $860,000 cap; one in October 2019 carries $875,000. Nothing about filing later changes it.
- Economic damages carry the case value. Because economic losses are uncapped, thorough proof of future medical needs and earning capacity — life-care planners, vocational experts, economists — is where serious cases are built.
- Medical malpractice cases are doubly capped. The lower med-mal cap and its aggregate rule make early, realistic case valuation essential.
- Wrongful death families should understand the multiplier. With two or more beneficiaries, the 150% enhancement applies to the family's collective noneconomic award in general-liability cases.
For readers comparing across the region: the District of Columbia has no cap on compensatory damages of any kind, and Virginia takes yet another approach — no general cap, but a hard total cap on medical malpractice recoveries and a statutory cap on punitive damages. Where a case can properly be brought sometimes matters as much as what it is worth; injuries with connections to more than one jurisdiction deserve a careful venue analysis for exactly this reason.
The cap is the quiet ceiling over every Maryland injury case. Knowing the current numbers — and building the uncapped side of the case accordingly — is simply part of doing this work honestly.
If you or a loved one has been hurt, call Posey Lebowitz at (202) 524-0123 or send us a message for a free consultation.
Part of our DMV case law archive, compiled in 2026 to reflect the archive of some of the most important decisions in injury law.