Pure comparative3-year ordinary injury clock
District of Columbia (2023)
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.
Last checked Aug 31, 2026 · LawyerUnc editorial. Educational only, not legal advice.
- If you share blame
- If you share blame, your recovery is cut by that percentage. You can still recover even if you were mostly at fault.
- Ordinary injury time limit
- 3 years. D.C. Code § 12-301. Tolling, discovery rules, and other claim types can change that. Use the time-limit tool, then have a lawyer confirm the subsection.
- Caps on pain and suffering
- No general PI cap. The 2023 comparative-negligence switch is the story.
What that actually means
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.
That is tort reform as a one-way door: once comparative is in, it rarely walks back.