Good news this morning. HB 110, the Maryland Comparative Negligence Act, has been withdrawn. The legislation would have had a negative impact on all Maryland Businesses. Defeating the bill was a Maryland Chamber priority.

Special thanks to every member who responded to our legislative alert and contacted their legislators. You made a difference on a very important bill.

The bill would have replaced Maryland’s standard of contributory negligence with a standard of comparative fault, needlessly overturning 150 years of Maryland case law and exposing Maryland businesses to more lawsuits and greater damage awards.

Under our current system of contributory negligence, if both parties to a lawsuit have contributed to the injury, they should pay their own damages and be barred from recovering against each other. If HB 110 would have passed, a person could recover damages for death or injury to an individual or property damage, as long as the negligence of the plaintiff was less than the negligence of the defendant.

The issue will likely be back next session.