Washington, DC Personal Injury Lawyer Resources

Washington, DC is one of the very few jurisdictions left in the United States that still follows pure contributory negligence. Under that rule, an injured person who is found even one percent at fault for the incident can be completely barred from recovering any damages. That is not a typo: one percent. It is the harshest fault rule in the country, and it changes how every DC injury case has to be prepared, investigated, and negotiated from the very first phone call.

The District generally applies a three-year statute of limitations to personal injury claims, which is longer than many states, but claims against the District government, WMATA, federal agencies, or other public entities follow their own much shorter notice rules. Federal Tort Claims Act matters involving federal property or federal employees have their own deadlines and procedures that bear no resemblance to a standard DC Superior Court case. In my 32 years of practice, DC cases are among the most technically demanding on the civil side, and the contributory negligence rule makes the margin for error unusually thin.

Goldberg & Loren handles Washington, DC injury cases across the usual practice areas: auto and truck crashes on the Beltway, in Northwest and on Rock Creek Parkway, pedestrian and bicycle strikes downtown, Metro and WMATA injuries, premises liability, and wrongful death. George Goldberg founded the firm after starting his career in 1994 defending airlines and insurers and switching to the plaintiff side in 1996. That defense background matters especially in DC, where contributory negligence gives defense lawyers an extraordinary tool, one percent of fault, and an experienced plaintiff lawyer has to shut that argument down before it takes root.

Below you will find our Washington, DC articles and the FAQs clients ask most often in a first consultation.

If you were hurt anywhere in the District, we offer a free consultation 24/7 and you pay nothing unless we recover money for you. Call us at 1-888-352-9243.