United States Court of Federal Claims, 2017

Lightbourne v. Secretary of Health and Human Services

United States Court of Federal Claims · Decided February 15, 2017 · Herbrina Sanders

Opinion

Int he Un it edS tat esC our tofF ede ralC laim s OFF ICE OFSPEC IAL MASTERS No .15- 423V F ied l :January12 ,2017 * * * * * * * * * * * * * UNPUBL ISHED DAVIDLIGHTBOURNE, * * Sp eci alM ast erS and ers P eit t ion er, * * Join tS tipu lat iononD amage s;H e pat it isA v . * Vaccine;H e pat iti sBV acc ine ; * Me n ingococ calV a ccine ;T e tanus , SECRETARYOFHEALTH * Diphtheria ,A ce llu larPer tuss is(“Tdap ”) ANDHUMANSERV ICES, * Vaccine. * R espond ent . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * And rewD .Down ing ,VanCot t &T alaman te ,PLLC ,Phoen ix,AZ,fo rPe tit ione r.

Chr is tin eM .Be cer ,Uni tedS tat esDep artm ento fJu st ice ,Washing ton ,DC,forRespond ent .

DEC ISION1 OnAp ril27,2015 ,Da v idL igh tbou rne(“Petit ion er ”)fi ledap et it ionforcomp ensa tion pur suan ttoth eN at ionalV ac cin eIn juryComp en s a tionP rogram.2 42U.S.C.§§300 aa -1to- 34 (2012 ).P et it ion e rallegedthatasar e sul toftheH ep a tit isAa ndH epa ti ti sBv acc ines admin ist eredonAug ust6,2012 ,andtheTet anus,D iphther ia,A cu llu larPertus sis(“Tdap” ),a nd Men ingoc occa lv acc in e sa dminist eredon May15,2014 ,h edevelopedseve r egast ro- inte st in al (“G I”)dis tress ,n ervepain,confus ion,fa tigue ,disorienta tion ,p are sis ,trans ientpara lys isa ndloss ofmoto rf unc tion.S eeStipu lationat¶¶1 - 4,fi ledJ an.12,2017.

OnJ anuary12,2017 ,thepar tiesfil edas tipula tioninwhichth eys ta teth a tad eci sion shouldb ee nteredaward ingc ompen sationtoPetitione r.R e spond en td eniesthatthe afo rem e n tione dvacc inescausedPe ti tioner’sin ju ry ,ora nyothe rinjury.N ev e rthel ess ,th epa rti es agre etoth ejointst ipul at ion,at tach edh eretoasApp e ndixA.If indth estipula tionreasonab le anda doptita sthedecis ionoftheCourtinaw ardingd amages ,onth ete rmss e tfo r ththere in.

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