Cynthia Hart v. HHS - Influenza, demyelinating condition affecting her lower extremities (2020)

Cynthia Hart, as personal representative of the estate of Brian Walker, filed a petition for compensation alleging that Brian Walker suffered a demyelinating condition affecting her lower extremities after receiving an influenza vaccination on September 22, 2015. The petitioner later filed an unopposed motion to dismiss the petition, stating that the records did not reflect a timely relationship between the vaccination and the onset of injury.

Respondent had no objection to the motion. The court noted that to receive compensation, petitioners must prove either a Table Injury or that the injury was caused-in-fact by a covered vaccine.

The record did not contain evidence of a Table Injury, nor persuasive evidence that the alleged injury was caused by the flu vaccine, as the petitioner had not provided an expert opinion and the medical records did not support a proximate temporal relationship between vaccination and injury. Consequently, the court granted the motion to dismiss for insufficient proof.

The case was dismissed, and judgment was entered accordingly.