Maryland has one of the densest concentrations of federal employment in the country. Fort Meade and the NSA, Walter Reed in Bethesda, Fort Detrick in Frederick, Aberdeen Proving Ground, the NIH campus and the Social Security Administration at Woodlawn all sit inside our office footprint, along with the postal fleet and federal facilities in every county we serve.
When a federal employee causes an injury while doing their job, the claim runs under the Federal Tort Claims Act rather than ordinary Maryland tort rules. The difference is procedural and it is unforgiving.
What kind of claim this is
The FTCA is how the United States allows itself to be sued for the negligence of its employees acting within the scope of their employment. Typical Maryland examples:
- A collision with a postal truck, a military vehicle or another federal fleet vehicle
- Negligent medical care at a federal facility, including military treatment facilities and VA hospitals
- A fall or other injury caused by unsafe conditions on federal property
- Injuries caused by federal contractors in some circumstances, though contractors are frequently outside the Act
The claim is measured against the law of the place where the negligence happened, so a Maryland incident is judged by Maryland negligence standards, including contributory negligence, but the procedure is entirely federal.
The administrative claim comes first
Before any lawsuit, the claim must be presented to the responsible agency, normally on the standard federal claim form known as the SF-95, stating a specific sum of money claimed.
- Present the claim to the right agency. Filing with the wrong one wastes time that the deadline does not give back.
- State a sum certain. The amount claimed generally caps what can later be sought in court, so it is not a placeholder to be guessed at.
- The agency investigates. It may deny the claim, settle it, or simply not respond.
- Only then can suit be filed, in federal district court, and there is a limited window after a denial in which to do it.
This is called exhausting administrative remedies. A court will not hear an FTCA case that skipped it, however strong the underlying facts are.
The deadlines that end these claims
Two separate clocks run, and both are shorter than Maryland's ordinary three years:
- The claim must be presented to the agency within two years of the claim accruing.
- After a written denial, there is a short window to file suit, measured in months rather than years.
Because these run independently of the state deadline, people who assume they have three years routinely lose FTCA claims that were otherwise sound. If a federal employee or facility is involved, treat the clock as already running.
Who cannot use the FTCA
- Active-duty service members are generally barred from suing for injuries incident to service under the Feres doctrine, which is a significant limit around military facilities. Family members and civilians are not barred in the same way.
- Federal civilian employees injured at work generally go through the federal workers' compensation system rather than a tort claim against the agency.
- Certain categories are excluded from the Act altogether, including some discretionary decisions and several intentional acts.
- No jury and no punitive damages. FTCA cases are decided by a judge, and punitive damages are not available against the United States.
Which of these applies is the first question worth answering, because it determines whether there is a viable claim at all.
Federal Maryland, office by office
Our Silver Spring office covers the NIH campus, Walter Reed in Bethesda and the federal corridor into the District. Frederick covers Fort Detrick. Our Baltimore and Ellicott City offices cover the Social Security Administration at Woodlawn and the federal facilities around the Beltway, and Annapolis covers Anne Arundel, including the Fort Meade area and the Naval Academy city itself.
FTCA suits from anywhere in the state are filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland rather than in a county circuit court.
