Maryland’s Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims: Exceptions That Can Extend Your Deadline

Most people who look up Maryland’s filing deadline stop reading at “three years.” That number is real, but it is a starting point, not the whole answer. Depending on who was hurt, how it happened, and what the other side did afterward, the clock may start late, pause for years, or run out much sooner than expected.

Our Maryland personal injury attorneys explain the exceptions that can stretch a deadline and why counting on them is rarely a safe strategy.

Maryland’s Three-Year Rule and Where It Bends

Under Section 5-101 of the Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, most civil actions must be filed within three years from the date they accrue. The key word is “accrue.” Accrual is not always the day of the accident, and several statutes change when those three years begin to count:

• Injured children, since Section 5-201 pauses the clock while the injured person is a minor, generally allowing three years after the child turns 18 to file. A playground injury at age six may still support a claim 15 years later.
• Mental incompetence, as the same section delays the deadline for someone who is legally incompetent when the claim arises until that disability is removed.
• Hidden wrongdoing, since Section 5-203 provides that if the at-fault party used fraud to keep you from learning about the claim, it does not accrue until you discovered the fraud or should have with ordinary diligence.
• Medical malpractice, which has its own rule under Section 5-109. Claims must be filed within the earlier of five years from the injury or three years from discovery, and the five-year cap applies even if the harm stayed hidden.

Why an Exception Is Not a Safety Net

Every exception depends on facts, and the defense will challenge each one. Discovery arguments turn on what a “reasonable” person would have noticed, a standard insurers read in their own favor. Fraudulent concealment usually requires more than silence from the other side.

Some rules also cut in the opposite direction. If a county or city employee caused your injury, Section 5-304 requires written notice of the claim within one year, long before the three-year deadline arrives. When a child is hurt, tolling protects the child’s own claim, but a parent’s separate claim for medical bills paid during childhood may follow the standard timeline.

Evidence has an expiration date, too. Surveillance footage gets overwritten within days or weeks, witnesses move, and memories fade. A claim that is technically timely can still be far harder to prove years later.

Think Your Deadline Has Passed? Let Us Check the Math

A missed deadline is one of the few mistakes in an injury case that cannot be undone. Whether you assume your claim is too old or you are counting on an exception, have the timeline reviewed before you decide anything.

Berman | Sobin | Gross LLP has represented injured Marylanders for decades. Our Maryland personal injury attorneys can pinpoint when your clock actually started and what options remain. Request a consultation today.

Source
mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-101&enactments=false