What is Personal Injury Law and what is its real intended purpose?

Generally speaking, Personal Injury Law is that body of law that seeks to help redress harmful or wrongful actions taken against another, which may result in serious bodily injury of some form, and oftentimes results in premature and wrongful death, by way of an individual or business entities’ intentional, reckless, negligent or careless actions.

Are you required to pay taxes (i.e. state or federal) on any money damages that you might receive as a result of being injured?

No. Generally speaking, money damages awarded or recovered by any person who successfully pursues and a personal injury claim or formal lawsuit, by way of receiving a settlement, verdict or judgment is not considered or classified as being "earned income" and thus is not taxable under the U.S. Tax Code.

What key factors go into determining the ultimate amount of recovery (i.e. money damages) that an injured person might receive or be awarded when filing a lawsuit.

Generally speaking, most persons that recover monetary damages following being injured as a result of the intentional, reckless, negligent or carelessness of another is not in the millions of dollars that you may be accustomed to seeing, as advertised on television.

In general, the key factors that ultimately help determine the total amount of recovery (i.e. the monetary compensation that may be paid out) to one who suffers a serious bodily injury are: 1) a final determination as to the percentage of fault of each party involved in the incident; 2) the extent of damage sustained by the injured party; and 3) the amount of coverage available under the applicable insurance policy or policies (i.e. more than one) that will provide coverage in a particular accident or incident.

What percentage of personal injury claims, when pursued by any person that is seriously injured, actually settle versus go on to have a formal trial?

Nationally, it has been statistically documented that approximately 98% of all bodily injury related claims are eventually settled and only 2% actually go all the way to trial, with a verdict being rendered and a judgment entered.

What is the standard fee charged by most lawyers that practice and provide legal services to persons that sustain a personal bodily injury as the direct result of the intentional, negligent, reckless or careless actions of another?

In the large majority of cases, at least in the US, attorneys that specialize in the field of personal injury are willing to take on the case under contingency. With a contingency fee agreement, which must be in writing to be valid, this means that the attorney will only receive a fee of +/- 33.3% of the net recovery, with the lawyer also agreeing that he/she will not be paid anything (i.e. a fee for her legal services rendered) unless the attorney is able to recover a monetary settlement, verdict or judgment for you, the client.