Jordan Briggs v. HHS - Influenza, shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) (2021)

Jordan Briggs filed a petition for compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, alleging she developed a shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) from an influenza vaccine received on October 17, 2016. Medical records indicated that her left arm pain began on the same day as the vaccination, with symptoms including decreased mobility and pain aggravated by movement.

She sought treatment for this pain, which was diagnosed as a flu shot into the tendon cuff. The respondent, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, moved to dismiss the petition as untimely.

The court found that the first symptom or manifestation of onset occurred on October 17, 2016, and the petition was required to be filed within 36 months of that date. Although Briggs initially mailed her petition to HHS on October 17, 2019, which was the last day of the statute of limitations, HHS returned it to her, and she subsequently mailed it to the Court of Federal Claims, where it was filed on October 25, 2019.

The court determined that the petition was filed outside the 36-month statute of limitations and that no extraordinary circumstances warranted equitable tolling. Therefore, the court granted the respondent's motion to dismiss, and the petition was dismissed.