1



# In the United States Court of Federal Claims

OFFICE OF SPECIAL MASTERS

No. 1 4

- 363 V

Filed: N ovember 12 , 2015

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * UNPUBLISHED

J UDY BECKER

, *

* Special Master Gowen

Petitioner, *

* Joint Stipulation on Damages;

v. * Tetanus

- diphtheria

- acellular

* pertussis (“ T dap ”) v accine ;

SECRETARY OF HEALTH * G uillain

- Barre Syndrome

. AND HUMAN SERVICES, *

*

Respondent. *

*

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A mber D. Wilson

, M aglio, C hristopher & Toale

, PA, W ashington

, D C

, for petitioner

. L ara A. Englund

, United States Department of Justice, Washington , DC, for respondent.

DECISION ON JOINT STIPULATION 1

On A pril 29, 2014

, J udy Becker (“ petitioner ”) filed a petition pursuant to the National

Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

. 2 42 U .S.C. §§ 300aa

- 1 to

- 34 (20 12 ). Petitioner alleged

that as a result of receiving a Tetanus

- diphtheria

- acellular pertussis (“ T dap ”) v accine on o r about

A u gust 1, 2011

, she suffered G uillain

- Barre Syndrome ( “ GBS ” )

. Stipulation ¶ 2, 4, filed N ov. 1 0

, 2015

. Further, petitioner alleged that she experienced residual effects of her injury for more than

six months. Id. at ¶ 4.

1 Because this decision contains a reasoned explanation for the undersigned’s action in this case,

the undersigned intends to post this ruling on the website of the United States Court of Federal

Claims , in accordance with the E

- Government Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107

- 347, § 205, 116 Stat.

2899, 2913 (codified as amended at 44 U.S.C. § 3501 note (20 12 )). As provided by Vaccine Rule

18(b), each party has 14 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).

2 The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is set forth in Part 2 of the National

Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99

- 660, 100 Stat. 3755, codified as amended,

42 U.S.C. §§ 300aa

- 1 to

- 34 (20 12 ) (Vaccine Act or the Act). All citatio ns in this decision to

individual sections of the Vaccine Act are to 42 U.S.C.A. § 300aa.2

On N ovember 10

, 2015, the parties filed a stipulatio n in which they state that a decision

should b e entered awarding compensation. Respondent denies that the T dap vaccination caused

petitioner’s G BS

, or any other injury or her curren t condition

. Id. at ¶ 6. Nevertheless, the parties

agree to the joint stipulation, attached hereto as Appendix A

. The undersigned finds the stipulation

reasonable and adopts it as the decision of the Court in awarding damages, on the terms set forth

therein.

The parties stipula te that petitioner shall receive the following compensation:

A lump sum of $ 5 25 ,000 .00

, in the form of a check payable to petitioner

, J udy Becker

. This amount represents compensation for all damages that would be availabl e under

42 U.S.C. § 300aa

- 15(a)

.

Id. at ¶ 8.

The undersigned approves the requested amo unt for petitioner ’s compensation.

Accordingly, an award should be made consistent with the stipulation.

T he clerk of the court SHALL ENTER JUDGMENT in accordance with the terms of

the parties’ stipulation. 3

IT IS SO ORDERED.

s/ Thomas L. Gowen

Thomas L. Gowen

Special Master

3 Pursuant to Vaccine Rule 11(a), entry of judgment is expedited by the parties’ joint filing of

notice renouncing the right to seek review.