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Pain & Suffering Caps by State (2026)

Side-by-side comparison of non-economic damages caps, statute of limitations, comparative negligence rules, and no-fault PIP requirements across all 50 US states and Washington DC. Search, sort, filter, or download the full dataset as CSV. Every figure links to its governing statute or case on each state page.

Quick reading:

State Non-Economic Cap Punitive Cap Negligence Rule No-Fault SOL (yrs) Min Auto BI Calculator
Alabama AL No Cap None / special ⚠ Pure Contributory Negligence — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Alaska AK No Cap $500,000 Pure Comparative Negligence — 2 50/100 Calculate →
Arizona AZ No Cap None / special Pure Comparative Negligence — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Arkansas AR No Cap $250,000 Modified Comparative (50% bar) — 3 25/50 Calculate →
California CA No Cap None / special Pure Comparative Negligence — 2 30/60 Calculate →
Connecticut CT No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Delaware DE No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) ✓ Yes 2 25/50 Calculate →
Florida FL No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) ✓ Yes 2 10/20 Calculate →
Georgia GA No Cap $250,000 Modified Comparative (50% bar) — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Illinois IL No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Indiana IN No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Iowa IA No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 2 20/40 Calculate →
Kentucky KY No Cap None / special Pure Comparative Negligence ✓ Yes 1 25/50 Calculate →
Maine ME No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (50% bar) — 6 50/100 Calculate →
Massachusetts MA No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) ✓ Yes 3 20/40 Calculate →
Michigan MI No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) ✓ Yes 3 50/100 Calculate →
Minnesota MN No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) ✓ Yes 2 30/60 Calculate →
Missouri MO No Cap $500,000 Pure Comparative Negligence — 5 25/50 Calculate →
Montana MT No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 3 25/50 Calculate →
Nebraska NE No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (50% bar) — 4 25/50 Calculate →
Nevada NV No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 2 25/50 Calculate →
New Hampshire NH No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 3 25/50 Calculate →
New Jersey NJ No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) ✓ Yes 2 15/30 Calculate →
New Mexico NM No Cap None / special Pure Comparative Negligence — 3 25/50 Calculate →
New York NY No Cap None / special Pure Comparative Negligence ✓ Yes 3 25/50 Calculate →
North Carolina NC No Cap $500,000 ⚠ Pure Contributory Negligence — 3 30/60 Calculate →
North Dakota ND No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (50% bar) ✓ Yes 6 25/50 Calculate →
Oklahoma OK No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (50% bar) — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Oregon OR No Cap $500,000 Modified Comparative (51% bar) ✓ Yes 2 25/50 Calculate →
Pennsylvania PA No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) ✓ Yes 2 15/30 Calculate →
Rhode Island RI No Cap None / special Pure Comparative Negligence — 3 25/50 Calculate →
South Carolina SC No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 3 25/50 Calculate →
South Dakota SD No Cap None / special Pure Comparative Negligence — 3 25/50 Calculate →
Texas TX No Cap $750,000 Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 2 30/60 Calculate →
Utah UT No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (50% bar) ✓ Yes 4 25/65 Calculate →
Vermont VT No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 3 25/50 Calculate →
Virginia VA No Cap None / special ⚠ Pure Contributory Negligence — 2 30/60 Calculate →
Washington WA No Cap None / special Pure Comparative Negligence — 3 25/50 Calculate →
Washington D.C. DC No Cap None / special ⚠ Pure Contributory Negligence ✓ Yes 3 25/50 Calculate →
West Virginia WV No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (50% bar) — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Wisconsin WI No Cap $200,000 Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 3 25/50 Calculate →
Wyoming WY No Cap None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 4 25/50 Calculate →
Idaho ID $250,000 None / special Modified Comparative (50% bar) — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Ohio OH $250,000 $350,000 Modified Comparative (51% bar) — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Kansas KS $325,000 None / special Modified Comparative (50% bar) ✓ Yes 2 25/50 Calculate →
Hawaii HI $375,000 None / special Modified Comparative (51% bar) ✓ Yes 2 20/40 Calculate →
Louisiana LA $500,000 None / special Pure Comparative Negligence — 1 15/30 Calculate →
Colorado CO $642,180 $642,180 Modified Comparative (50% bar) — 2 25/50 Calculate →
Tennessee TN $750,000 $500,000 Modified Comparative (50% bar) — 1 25/50 Calculate →
Maryland MD $935,000 None / special ⚠ Pure Contributory Negligence — 3 30/60 Calculate →
Mississippi MS $1,000,000 $20,000,000 Pure Comparative Negligence — 3 25/50 Calculate →

States grouped by negligence rule

The comparative-negligence rule is often the single biggest factor in whether — and how much — you can recover when you share any blame for the accident.

States with vs. without a non-economic damages cap

No-fault / PIP states

These 15 jurisdictions require Personal Injury Protection and bar motor-vehicle pain & suffering claims unless the injury clears a “serious injury” threshold: DC, DE, FL, HI, KS, KY, MA, MI, MN, ND, NJ, NY, OR, PA, UT.

How to read these numbers

Non-Economic Cap. The state’s statutory limit on pain & suffering damages. Caps vary widely and often apply only to certain claim types — for example California’s medical-malpractice cap rises each year under the 2022 MICRA reform (from $350,000 pre-2023 toward $750,000 by 2033), while general personal-injury claims in California are uncapped. Texas general PI is uncapped but medical malpractice is capped. About half the states impose no cap on general PI.

Negligence Rule. Determines what happens if you bear partial responsibility:

No-Fault / PIP. No-fault states require Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage and bar motor vehicle pain & suffering claims unless your injury exceeds a “serious injury threshold” (typically: death, permanent disfigurement, significant disability, or medicals above the PIP limit).

Min Auto BI. The state’s minimum required bodily-injury liability coverage, shown as per-person / per-accident (in thousands). Low minimums (e.g. Florida 10/20) mean at-fault drivers are often underinsured — your own UM/UIM coverage matters more.

Statute of Limitations (SOL). The deadline to file suit. Most states are 2–3 years from injury date. Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee are 1 year — extremely short. Missing the SOL bars the claim forever, regardless of merit.

Legal citations and full state-specific rules: see each state’s calculator page linked above. These figures are compiled from state statutes and case law; statutes change — verify against the linked primary source before relying on any number.