BARRON v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

In the United States Court of Federal Claims OFFICE OF SPECIAL MASTERS No. 22-1336V ************************* * SHANE BARRON, SCOTT BARRON, * Chief Special Master Corcoran and NICOLA BOUGHTON, Co-Executors, * on behalf of RONALD J. BARRON, * Filed: July 2, 2024 Deceased, * Petitioners, * * v. * * SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND * HUMAN SERVICES, * * Respondent. * * ************************* Zachary J. Hermsen, Whitfield & Eddy Law, Des Moines, IA, for Petitioner.

Alec Saxe, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Washington, DC, for Respondent.

DECISION AWARDING DAMAGES 1 On September 20, 2022, Petitioners Shane Barron, Scott Barron, and Nicola Boughton, as co-executors of the Estate of Ronald J. Barron (“decedent”), filed a petition seeking compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (the “Vaccine Program”). 2 Petitioners allege that decedent suffered from Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (“CIDP”) as a result of receiving influenza (“flu”) vaccines on October 10, 2019, and/or November 5, 2019. 3 Moreover, Petitioners allege that decedent experienced residual effects of this injury for Because this decision contains a reasoned explanation for my actions in this case, I will post it on the United States Court of Federal Claims website, in accordance with the E-Government Act of 2002, 44 U.S.C. § 3501 (2012). As provided by 42 U.S.C. § 300aa-12(d)(4)(B), however, the parties may object to the decision’s inclusion of certain kinds of confidential information. Specifically, under Vaccine Rule 18(b), each party has fourteen days within which to request redaction “of any information furnished by that party: (1) that is a trade secret or commercial or financial in substance and is privileged or confidential; or (2) that includes medical files or similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy.” Vaccine Rule 18(b). Otherwise, the whole decision will be available to the public. Id. The Vaccine Program comprises Part 2 of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-660, 100 Stat. 3758, codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 300aa-10 through 34 (2012) (“Vaccine Act” or “the Act”).

Individual section references hereafter will be to § 300aa of the Act (but will omit that statutory prefix).

The decedent also received a pneumococcal conjugate vaccination on November 5, 2019. more than six months.

Respondent denies that any of the vaccines decedent received on October 10, 2019, and November 5, 2019, caused him to suffer from CIDP, or any other injury or condition. Respondent also denies that the vaccines caused his death. Nonetheless both parties, while maintaining their above-stated positions, agreed in a stipulation (filed on July 1, 2024) that the issues before them could be settled, and that a decision should be entered awarding Petitioners compensation.

I have reviewed the file, and based upon that review, I conclude that the parties’ stipulation (as attached hereto) is reasonable. I therefore adopt it as my decision in awarding damages on the terms set forth therein.

The stipulation awards: • A lump sum of $90,000.00 in the form of a check payable to Petitioners, as Co- Executors of the Estate of Ronald J. Barron.

Stipulation ¶ 8. This amount represents compensation for all damages that would be available under Section 15(a) of the Act.

I approve a Vaccine Program award in the requested amount set forth above to be made to Petitioner. In the absence of a motion for review filed pursuant to RCFC Appendix B, the Clerk of the Court is directed to enter judgment herewith. 4

IT IS SO ORDERED.

/s/ Brian H. Corcoran Brian H. Corcoran Chief Special Master

Pursuant to Vaccine Rule 11(a), the parties may expedite entry of judgment by each filing (either jointly or separately) a notice renouncing their right to seek review.