Personal Injury and Civil Rights Claims in the District of Columbia

Attorney Answer

Before anything else, know two features of District of Columbia law that surprise people from almost every other state: some of the most common civil rights torts carry a one-year deadline, and D.C. still follows contributory negligence, which can bar a personal injury recovery entirely if you were even slightly at fault.

The contributory negligence point is not a technicality. In most states, being partly at fault reduces what you recover. In the District, a plaintiff found even minimally responsible for their own injury can be barred from recovering anything at all in an ordinary negligence case. Do not assume the comparative fault rule you have read about elsewhere applies here.

On deadlines, D.C. Code § 12-301(a)(8) gives three years for negligence and other personal injury claims for which no other period is specially prescribed. But D.C. Code § 12-301(a)(4) gives only one year for assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution — precisely the torts that arise in a police or civil rights case. A referral question framed as "personal injury and civil rights" can easily involve claims on the one-year track.

Which claim you have depends on facts not in your message. If a government actor was involved, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provides a federal cause of action against persons acting under color of law for deprivation of constitutional rights; it reaches the District and its officials, while claims against federal officers proceed on a different footing. If your civil rights issue is workplace discrimination, D.C. Code § 2-1402.11 is the D.C. Human Rights Act's employment provision — housing and public accommodations are covered by different sections.

What you can do

1. Write out what actually happened, with dates, before you call anyone. The one-year versus three-year question is answered by the facts, and no lawyer can screen the case without them. 2. If any claim involves the District government or its employees, act now — the District requires written notice of injury claims be given to the Mayor's office within a short period measured in months, well before any lawsuit deadline. Missing it can end a claim that is otherwise strong. 3. Preserve evidence: photographs, medical records, incident or police reports, body-camera requests, and witness contact information. 4. To find independent counsel, use the D.C. Bar Lawyer Referral Service, and ask any firm directly whether it has represented the potential defendant or its insurer. Conflicts are the real answer to your question — a firm's client list matters more than its size. 5. Ask each firm which specific claims it sees and which limitation period applies to each. A firm that cannot answer that on the first call is not the right one.

⏱ Time limits apply. D.C. Code § 12-301(a)(4) sets one year for assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution; D.C. Code § 12-301(a)(8) sets three years for general negligence and personal injury. A separate and much shorter written notice requirement applies to claims against the District itself. Which applies to you depends on your specific facts, and getting it wrong by even a few weeks can be fatal to the claim.