Washington, DC Personal Injury Lawyers — Felicetti Law Firm

The District compresses a commuter population, a tourist population and a resident population onto the same streets, then adds one of the highest cycling shares in the country. Its negligence law splits along exactly that line: how a DC claim is judged depends heavily on whether the injured person was in a vehicle or outside one.

The Pennsylvania Avenue Office

Call (800) 333-1988

The District Protects Pedestrians and Cyclists Differently

D.C. Code § 50-2204.52 sets aside contributory negligence for vulnerable users — pedestrians, bicyclists and others outside a motor vehicle. Their own negligence does not bar recovery unless it was a proximate cause of the injury and greater than the combined negligence of all the defendants.

That converts the harshest rule in American tort law into an ordinary comparative one for the people most likely to be seriously hurt. It was enacted in 2016 and amended in 2021, and it is the provision other jurisdictions have since tried to copy.

A pedestrian struck in a crosswalk who stepped out a moment early is not automatically finished in the District, even though the same facts would end the case across the line in Maryland or Virginia. Generic material that lumps DC in with its neighbours misses this entirely.

Car-on-Car Collisions Are Still Governed by Contributory Negligence

Outside the vulnerable-user carve-out, the District’s default common-law rule remains pure contributory negligence: a claimant found even minimally at fault recovers nothing.

So two crashes on the same block can be decided under two different standards. A driver rear-ended on Rhode Island Avenue is in a contributory negligence case. A cyclist struck at the same intersection is not. Identifying which rule governs is the first analytical step in any District claim.

Six Months to Put the Mayor on Notice

A claim against the District of Columbia requires written notice to the Mayor within six months of the injury, setting out the approximate time, place, cause and circumstances (D.C. Code § 12-309). A Metropolitan Police Department report made in the ordinary course of duty can satisfy the requirement in place of a separate letter.

District courts construe § 12-309 strictly and there is no general good-cause escape for a late notice. Metrobus, DC Circulator, District fleet vehicles, sidewalk and roadway defects and DC public school claims all depend on it.

Three Years to File an Ordinary Claim

The general limitation period for a District personal injury action is three years (D.C. Code § 12-301). Wrongful death runs on its own, considerably shorter period, and claims against health care providers require a pre-suit notice of intent before a complaint can be filed.

Three years sounds generous next to a six-month notice requirement, and that contrast is precisely the trap: people relax on the long number while the short one expires.

What the Firm Handles in the District

The office covers all eight wards and the immediate suburbs, and the firm regularly handles car collisions, truck and delivery vehicle crashes, motorcycle claims, pedestrian and cyclist injuries, scooter and rideshare cases, slip, trip and fall claims, construction site accidents, workers’ compensation and wrongful death.

Speak to Someone About a District Injury

If a District vehicle or a District street defect was involved, the six-month notice is the deadline that decides the case. Call (800) 333-1988 at any hour, or describe what happened online. There is no charge for the review and no fee unless the firm recovers for you.

Call (800) 333-1988 — Free DC Case Review

Felicetti also serves: Maryland · New Jersey · North Carolina · New York

District of Columbia law is summarised here in general terms and has exceptions. Not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by reading this page. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. District matters are handled by attorneys licensed in the District of Columbia.