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# In the United States Court of Federal Claims

OFFICE OF SPECIAL MASTERS

Filed: April 29, 2020

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

SUSAN HOEFLING

, administrator of the *

E sta te of A SHLEY S CHOOP

, * UNPUBLISHED

*

Petitioner, * No. 18

- 1935 V

*

v. * Special Master Dorsey

*

SECRETARY OF HEALTH * Petitioner ’ s M o tion for Decision D i s m i s s i n g

AND HUMAN SERV ICES, * H er Petition ; Influen za ( “ Flu ” ) V accin e ;

* R habdomyolysis ; Death

. Respondent. *

*

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

Renee Gentry

, Vacc ine Injury Clinic, G W Univ. Law Schoo l

, Washington, DC , for p etitioner.

Tra ci Patton , United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for respondent.

DECISION 1

On December 19 , 201 8

, Susan Hoefling, administ rator of the estate of Ashley Schoop,

(“ petitioner”) filed a petition for compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation

Progr am (“ the Program”) 2 alleging that as a result of receiving a n i nfluenza ( “ flu ” ) vaccination

a dministered on December 2 3 , 201 7

, Ashley Scho op suffered from rh abdomyolysis and opioid

ad diction that le d to her death

. Petition at 1

- 2 , 8

. The information in the record, however, does

not show entitlem ent to an award under the Program.

On April 28 , 20 20 , petitioner moved for a decision dismissing her case , stating that

1 Because this Decision contains a reas o ned explanat ion for the action in this case, the

unders igned is requir ed to post it on the Un ited States Court of Fed er al Cla ims’ we bsite in

acc ordance with the E

- Government Act of 2002. 44 U.S

. C. § 3501 note (2012) ( Federal

Management and Promotion of E l ectronic Gov ernment Services). This means the Decision will

be availa ble to anyone with acce ss to the I nternet. In ac cordan ce with Vaccine Rul e 18(b),

petitioner has 14 days to identify and mo v e t o redact medical or other information, the disclosure

of w hich would c onstitute an unwarranted invasion of privac y. If, upon re view, the undersigned

a grees that the iden tifie d materi al fits within this definition, the undersigned will redact such

mate r ial from public access.

2 The Program comprises Part 2 of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, 42

U .S.C. §§ 30 0 aa

- 10 et seq

. (hereinafter “Vaccine Act” or “the Act ”). Hereafte r, indivi dual

section references will be to 42 U.S.C. § 300aa of t he Act.2

[a] n investigation of the supporting facts and science has demonstrated to the

[p] etitioner that she will be unable to prove that she is entitled to compensat ion in

the Vaccine Program. In these circumstances, to proceed any further would be

unreas onable, and would waste the resources of the Court, the respondent, and the

Vaccine Program.

Petitioner ’ s Mot ion for Decision D ismissing Her Petition at ¶¶ 1

- 2

. Petitioner states th at s he

understands that a decision by the Special Master will result in a judgment against h er , and that

s he has been advised that such a judgment will end all of h er rights under the V accine Act

. Id. at

¶ 3 . Petitioner states that s he understand s that s he m ay apply for costs once h er case is dismissed

and judgment is enter ed against h er and that respondent ex pressly reserves the right to question

good faith and reasonable basis of h er c laim and oppose h er application for cost if appro priate

. Id. at ¶ 4

. Additionally, p etitioner intends to protect h er right to file a civil action , and pursuant

to the Act, s he intends to elect to reject the Vaccine Program judgment against h er and elect t o

file a civil action

. Id. at ¶ 6

.

To receive compensation under t he Program, petitioner must prove either (1) that s he

suffered a “Tab le Injury”

— i.e., an injury falling within the Vaccine Inj ury Table

— corresponding

to the vaccination, or ( 2) that s he su ffered an injury that was actually caused by the vaccination.

See §§ 13(a)(1)(A) and 11(c)(1). The records submitted by petitioner show that s he does not

meet the statutory requirement under 4 2 U.S.C. § 300aa

- 11(c)(1)(D)(i) to establish ent itlement to

com pensation. The Federal Circuit has explained tha t the eligibility req uirements in Section

11(c) are not mere pleading requirements or m atters of proof at trial, but instead are “threshold

crit eri[a] for seeking entry into the compensation p rogram.” Black v. Sec ’ y of Health & Human

Servs. , 93 F.3d 781, 785

- 87 (Fed. Cir. 199 6).

Accordingly, i n light of petitioner ’ s motion and a review of the record, the unders i gned

fi nds that petitioner is not entitled to compensation. Thus, this case is dismissed . The Clerk of

Court shall enter judgment accordingly.

IT IS S O ORDERED.

s/Nora Beth Dorsey

Nora Beth Dorsey

Special Master