-Maryland law imposes a cap on money that can be recovered for non-economic damages on civil cases;
-Statute covering non-economic damages is Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 11-108.
-Separate cap for medical malpractice
-Non-economic damages include pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, loss of consortium, or other nonpecuniary injury.
-Statute was adopted in 1994 and stated that the cap would be $500,000.00 and would raise $15,000.00 on October 1 of each year.
-Cap for accidents occurring from October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013 is $770,000.00
-Cap for accidents occurring from October 1, 2013 to September 30, 2014 is $785,000.00
-Cap for accidents occurring from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015 is $800,000.00
-Cap for accidents occurring from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016 is $815,000.00
-Cap applies to all personal injury cases including slip and fall and automobile accidents.
-The number represents a maximum recovery for pain and suffering.
-If there are 2 or more wrongful death beneficiaries, the state places a cap on the amount recoverable by those beneficiaries to one and a half times the cap.
– Therefore from October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013, the wrongful death maximum for claims with two or more beneficiaries is $1,155,000.00.
– Wrongful death maximum for claim with two or more beneficiaries from October 1, 2013 to September 30, 2014 is $1,177,500.00.
– Wrongful death maximum for claim with two or more beneficiaries from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015 is $1,200,000.00.
– Wrongful death maximum for claim with two or more beneficiaries from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016 is $1,222,500.00.