Riley Truttman v. HHS - HPV, alopecia (2020)

Riley Truttman filed a petition for vaccine compensation on January 22, 2019, alleging that she received a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination on April 25, 2016, and subsequently developed alopecia. The respondent was the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The public decision does not describe the petitioner's counsel or respondent's counsel by name. On July 23, 2019, an order required the petitioner to file an expert report by October 21, 2019.

The petitioner filed multiple motions for extensions of time, which were granted on October 22, 2019, November 22, 2019, January 27, 2020, and February 27, 2020. On April 14, 2020, the petitioner filed a fifth motion for an extension, requesting until May 13, 2020, to file the expert report.

This motion was granted, but the petitioner was warned that no further extensions would be provided. The petitioner failed to file her expert report or any other filing by the May 13, 2020 deadline.

The Special Master's law clerk emailed petitioner's counsel about the missed deadline without receiving a response. An Order to Show Cause was issued on May 26, 2020, requiring the petitioner to file an expert report or show cause why the claim should not be dismissed by June 9, 2020.

The petitioner did not respond to this order. Petitioner's counsel advised the Special Master's law clerk via email that the petitioner would not be filing an expert report and had not given counsel permission to respond to the Order to Show Cause.

Special Master Mindy Michaels Roth noted the petitioner's failure to comply with court orders and failure to prosecute the case. Citing precedent, the Special Master dismissed the case for failure to prosecute and failure to follow court orders.

No compensation was awarded. The public decision does not describe the specific clinical story, medical experts, or the theory of causation.