* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Kraft
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
Request for State Legislation - Maryland - Comparative Negligence
FOR the purpose of requesting the Honorable Chairs and Members of the Baltimore City Senate and House Delegations to the 2007 Maryland General Assembly to introduce and advocate for legislation to replace Maryland's contributory negligence system with a comparative negligence system; urging the Honorable Chairs and Members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings and House Judiciary Committees to give the legislation a favorable report; and, upon passage of the legislation by the Maryland State Senate and the Maryland House of Delegates, entreating the Governor to sign the legislation into law.
Body
Recitals
According to the Maryland State Bar Association, bills to establish comparative negligence in Maryland have been introduced 8 times - 1988, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. However, despite this decade and a half of impassioned debate to replace the current contributory negligence standard with a more plaintiff-friendly comparative negligence standard, Maryland remains 1 of 5 jurisdictions in the United States, along with Virginia, the District of Columbia, Alabama, and North Carolina, that continues to use the contributory negligence standard.
Contributory negligence, a common law defense to a claim or action in tort, applies to a situation ...
Click here for full text