Tort reform in plain English

HB 837 (eff. Mar. 24, 2023). Still intact through the 2026 session.

In 2023 Florida cut the ordinary negligence clock from four years to two, and switched from pure comparative fault to a 51% bar. That is what a rewrite looks like on a real file.

Part EE of Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026 (S9008-C / A10008-C). Auto cases got a more-at-fault bar. The rest of New York negligence law did not.

Do not read a Florida explainer and assume New York copied the whole house. Florida's 51% bar after HB 837 is ordinary negligence. New York's 2026 bar is a carveout for personal-injury actions subject to the No-Fault Law.

The Comparative Negligence Act (L.1973, c.146; N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1) did not move. On January 1, 2026, minimum bodily-injury liability limits rose to $35,000 per person and $70,000 per accident on new and renewal policies (P.L.2022, c.87; N.J.S.A. 39:6B-1; DOBI Bulletin 25-06). That is a coverage floor. It is not a number for anyone's case, and it did not rewrite who can sue.

You can be zero percent at fault and still not sue for pain and suffering. That happens when the policy you bought says limitation on lawsuit and the injury is not on the six-item list in N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8. The declarations page answers that. A tort-reform headline does not.

AB 35 adjusted MICRA. No general PI noneconomic cap.

California is still pure comparative for ordinary negligence. Sharing blame cuts the check. It does not zero it out.

The 2003 package (eff. Sept. 1, 2003) is still the cap. It was not replaced in the 2025 statutes.

The $250,000 is noneconomic damages in a health-care claim, per claimant. It is not $250,000 per doctor. Section 74.301(a) says the physician layer is one ceiling no matter how many physicians are sued. Medical bills and lost wages are not in that number.

SB 68 and SB 69, both signed April 21, 2025. SB 69 was signed last. The two-year clock and the 50% bar did not move.

The two-year injury clock (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33) and the 50% bar (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33) are the same rules Georgia already had. 2025 did not copy Florida's clock cut or Florida's 51% bar.

No Florida-style 2020s overhaul. Venue and med-mal fights are the usual terrain.

Two-year clock, 51% bar. That is the working map for an ordinary injury file.

Caps keep getting passed and then dying in the courts. Confirm current status. Do not trust a 2005 number.

Illinois is a reminder that a cap on a bill is not a cap on the books. The Supreme Court of Illinois has killed noneconomic caps more than once.

Still one of four contributory states. Last-clear-chance and gross-contributory doctrines are the workarounds, not a legislative rewrite.

Contributory negligence means a 1% finding against you can zero the file. That is not a metaphor.

Contributory rule has survived repeated repeal attempts.

Same harsh fault rule as North Carolina, on a two-year clock instead of three.

The Court of Appeals kept contributory negligence. The legislature has not replaced it.

Maryland combines a contributory-fault bar with a noneconomic cap. That is a double filter.

Still contributory. Punitive-cap fights are the usual reform vehicle.

Alabama is not a no-fault state. Required coverage is liability insurance (Ala. Code § 32-7A-4), not PIP. People search that question because they heard Florida ads. The answer is no, and the next sentence is worse.

D.C. Law 24-173 (2023) left contributory negligence. D.C. is no longer in the holdout club with Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Alabama.

Until 2023, D.C. was a contributory jurisdiction. It is not anymore. A crash on one side of Western Avenue and a crash on the other now live under different fault math.

Caps plus a 50% bar. Incremental adjustments, not a 2023 Florida clone.

Colorado is what a long-running reform state looks like: a 50% bar, a two-year clock, and a noneconomic cap that legislators tune rather than explode.

No-fault auto reform (2019) changed the daily economics more than a classic tort bill.

In Michigan, the auto insurance statute often matters more than the comparative-fault statute. Threshold, PIP choice, and attendant-care fights are the file.

2005-era caps and damage statutes are the frame. Later cases have tested the exceptions.

Ohio pairs a 51% bar with noneconomic caps and a two-year clock. Catastrophic-injury exceptions are where the real fight is.