Loretta A. Zimmerman v. HHS - Influenza, rheumatoid arthritis (2016)
Case summary [AI summaries can sometimes make mistakes]
Loretta A. Zimmerman filed a petition on April 21, 2014, alleging that an influenza vaccine administered on December 11, 2012, caused her to develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
In an amended petition, she further alleged that the vaccination caused-in-fact, or significantly aggravated, her RA. The respondent denied that the flu vaccine caused or aggravated her RA.
On March 10, 2016, the parties filed a stipulation for damages and attorneys' fees. Special Master Lisa Hamilton-Fieldman found the stipulation reasonable and adopted it as the decision of the Court.
The stipulation awarded Ms. Zimmerman a lump sum of $60,000.00 for all damages and an additional $50,000.00 for attorneys' fees and costs, payable to Petitioner and her attorney, Jeffrey S.
Pop. The decision was entered based on the joint stipulation, with judgment to be entered accordingly.
Theory of causation
Petitioner Loretta A. Zimmerman alleged that an influenza vaccine administered on December 11, 2012, caused her to develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA), or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition. Respondent denied causation. The parties reached a stipulation for damages and attorneys' fees, which was adopted by Special Master Lisa Hamilton-Fieldman. Petitioner was awarded $60,000.00 for all damages and $50,000.00 for attorneys' fees and costs. The theory of causation was identified as 'Off-Table' in the provided data. No specific medical experts, clinical details regarding onset, symptoms, tests, treatments, or a detailed mechanism of causation were described in the public text.
Source PDFs
USCOURTS-cofc-1_14-vv-00323