Kristen Murdock v. HHS - MMR, encephalopathy and death (2014)

On January 13, 2011, Kristen Murdock filed a petition on behalf of her minor daughter, S.M., who had died. The petition alleged that S.M. suffered an encephalopathy and later died as a result of receiving the Hepatitis A, Varicella, and Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccines on January 21, 2009.

Respondent denied that S.M.'s death was caused-in-fact by vaccination and denied that the vaccines caused any other injury. The publicly available decision does not detail S.M.'s clinical course, date of death, medical history, autopsy findings, expert opinions, or a detailed causation analysis.

Instead, the record reflects a stipulated damages decision followed by a separate attorneys' fees and costs decision. On March 14, 2014, the parties filed a stipulation agreeing to an award of compensation.

Special Master Nora Beth Dorsey found the stipulation reasonable, adopted it as the decision of the Court, and issued the damages decision on March 18, 2014. The award was a lump sum of $170,000.00, payable to petitioner as guardian or conservator of S.M.'s estate, representing all damages available under 42 U.S.C. section 300aa-15(a).

Petitioner was represented by Ronald C. Homer of Conway, Homer and Chin-Caplan, P.C.

A subsequent decision on July 10, 2014, addressed attorneys' fees and costs, awarding a total of $35,067.89, payable jointly to petitioner and her counsel, and $861.00 payable solely to petitioner for costs.