If part of a building collapsed on you or under you in Maryland, the owner, landlord, property manager or the contractor who built or repaired it may be responsible. Most of these cases turn on one question: did the person responsible for the structure know, or should they have known, that it was failing?
This page is for tenants, guests, customers and people walking past. If you were working on the structure when it failed, start with construction injury claims. If a bridge or other major public structure failed, see bridge collapse claims, which run on different rules.
What actually collapses
- Ceilings, usually after a long-running leak, water damage or a heavy fixture on failing drywall or plaster
- Balconies, decks and porches, where rotted wood, corroded fasteners or overloading gives way under people standing on them
- Stairs and railings, especially exterior stairs exposed to weather
- Facades, masonry and cornices that fall onto sidewalks below
- Walls and floors in older rowhouses, including collapses that spread from a vacant or deteriorating house next door
- Roofs under snow or water load, and parking structures
- Adjacent collapses caused by excavation or demolition on the next lot
Baltimore and other older Maryland cities have large stocks of century-old rowhouses that share walls, so a failure in one house can injure the people living in the next.
Warning signs are usually the evidence
Structures rarely fail without warning. Sagging, cracks, stains, soft spots, leaning railings and loose bricks tend to appear first, and someone usually noticed. The claim is built from proof that the owner knew or should have known:
- Repair requests and complaints from tenants, in writing, texts or a management portal
- Code enforcement and housing inspection records, including violation notices issued for the property
- Prior repair invoices showing a problem was patched rather than fixed
- Photographs and videos taken before the collapse, by you or by neighbors
- Insurance inspection reports and prior claims on the building
If you complained before, find the messages now. If you did not, other tenants or neighbors often did.
Who can be responsible
- The owner or landlord. Common areas, such as stairwells, lobbies, walkways and parking areas, are generally the landlord’s responsibility rather than the tenant’s, and so are shared balconies, porches and the building’s structure.
- A property management company that handled maintenance and complaints
- A business, for the premises where its customers were hurt
- The contractor who built, renovated or repaired the part that failed
- Architects and engineers, for design errors
- A neighboring owner or demolition contractor, where work or neglect next door caused the collapse
Why you were there also matters. Maryland still sorts visitors by status. A business owes customers and other invitees reasonable care, including inspecting for hazards. A social guest is owed a warning of known dangers. A trespasser is owed far less, which matters in collapses of vacant buildings.
A separate deadline for designers and builders
Maryland has a statute of repose for improvements to real property. It can cut off claims against the architects, engineers and contractors who designed or built a structure once a set number of years have passed since it was completed, even when the injury happens later. It generally does not protect an owner or tenant who was in control of the property when the injury happened.
In practice, a collapse in an older building usually becomes a claim about maintenance rather than original construction. In a newer building, the builder and designer are often central, and the repose period is checked first.
What to do after a collapse
- Get medical care and tell the provider exactly what fell on you or gave way beneath you.
- Photograph the debris, the area it came from, and any water damage, rot or cracking around it before cleanup.
- Save every complaint and repair request you or others made.
- Ask in writing that the owner keep the failed materials, such as joists, fasteners, ceiling sections and railings.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the owner’s insurer before getting advice.
Owners often repair quickly after a collapse, partly for safety and partly for liability. Once the failed material is hauled away, it cannot be examined by an engineer.
Deadlines
Most Maryland injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of the injury, and a death follows the wrongful death rules. Maryland also follows contributory negligence, so expect the owner’s insurer to argue you overloaded a balcony or ignored a warning.
Public buildings, public housing and government-owned property carry a written notice requirement that runs much sooner, and the statute of repose can close a claim against a builder regardless of when you were hurt.
