VICP Registry Case Source Bundle
Canonical URL: https://vicp-registry.org/case/USCOURTS-cofc-1_25-vv-00658
Package ID: USCOURTS-cofc-1_25-vv-00658
Petitioner: Ruth A. Jones
Filed: 2025-04-16
Decided: 2026-01-30
Vaccine: influenza
Vaccination date: 2024-11-06
Condition: Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS)
Outcome: entitlement_granted_pending_damages
Award amount USD: 

AI-assisted case summary:
On April 16, 2025, Paula Bigelow filed a petition as personal representative of the estate of her mother, Ruth A. Jones, alleging that Ms. Jones developed Guillain-Barre syndrome after receiving an influenza vaccine on November 6, 2024.

The petition alleged that Ms. Jones died from her GBS illness on November 25, 2024. Respondent filed a Rule 4(c) report and proffer conceding that petitioner satisfied the Vaccine Injury Table criteria and the legal prerequisites for compensation. The public ruling does not describe the first symptoms, hospitalization, diagnostic testing, treatment, or circumstances of death.

On January 30, 2026, Chief Special Master Brian H. Corcoran found petitioner entitled to compensation. The public ruling did not state a damages amount.

Theory of causation field:
Influenza vaccine November 6, 2024 allegedly causing Table GBS and death of Ruth A. Jones on November 25, 2024; adult, exact age not stated. ENTITLEMENT CONCEDED; damages amount not stated in public ruling. Public source lacks clinical/death narrative beyond GBS death allegation. Chief SM Brian H. Corcoran; petition April 16, 2025; ruling January 30, 2026.

Public staged source text:

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DOCUMENT 1: USCOURTS-cofc-1_25-vv-00658-0
Date issued/filed: 2026-03-02
Pages: 2
Docket text: PUBLIC ORDER/RULING (Originally filed: 01/30/2026) regarding 21 Ruling on Entitlement Signed by Chief Special Master Brian H. Corcoran. (ppa) Service on parties made.
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Case 1:25-vv-00658-UNJ Document 28 Filed 03/02/26 Page 1 of 2
In the United States Court of Federal Claims
OFFICE OF SPECIAL MASTERS
No. 25-0658V
PAULA BIGELOW, as personal
representative of ESTATE OF RUTH Chief Special Master Corcoran
A. JONES,
Filed: January 30, 2026
Petitioner,
v.
SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES,
Respondent.
Jimmy A. Zgheib, Zgheib Sayad, P.C., White Plains, NY, for Petitioner.
Crystal Fialkowski, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Respondent.
RULING ON ENTITLEMENT1
On April 16, 2025, Paula Bigelow, as personal representative of the estate of Ruth
A. Jones (“Ms. Jones”), filed a petition for compensation under the National Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program, 42 U.S.C. §300aa-10, et seq.2 (the “Vaccine Act”). Petitioner
alleged that her mother, Ms. Jones, suffered Guillain-Barré syndrome (“GBS”), a defined
Table injury, or in the alternative caused-in-fact injury, after receiving an influenza (“flu”)
vaccine on November 6, 2024. Petition at 1, ¶¶ 4, 22-24. Petitioners also alleged that Ms.
Jones received the vaccine within the United States, that she sadly passed away from
1 Because this Ruling contains a reasoned explanation for the action taken in this case, it must be made
publicly accessible and will be posted on the United States Court of Federal Claims' website, and/or
at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/uscourts/national/cofc, in accordance with the E-Government
Act of 2002. 44 U.S.C. § 3501 note (2018) (Federal Management and Promotion of Electronic Government
Services). This means the Ruling will be available to anyone with access to the internet. In accordance
with Vaccine Rule 18(b), Petitioner has 14 days to identify and move to redact medical or other information,
the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy. If, upon review, I agree that
the identified material fits within this definition, I will redact such material from public access.
2 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-660, 100 Stat. 3755. Hereinafter, for ease
of citation, all section references to the Vaccine Act will be to the pertinent subparagraph of 42 U.S.C. §
300aa (2018).

Case 1:25-vv-00658-UNJ Document 28 Filed 03/02/26 Page 2 of 2
her GBS illness on November 25, 2024, and that neither Petitioner nor any other party
has filed a civil action or received compensation for Ms. Jones’s GBS, alleged as vaccine
caused. Id. at ¶¶ 2, 4, 25-27. The case was assigned to the Special Processing Unit of
the Office of Special Masters.
On January 30, 2026, Respondent filed his Rule 4(c) Report and Proffer of
Compensation in which he concedes that Petitioner is entitled to compensation in this
case. Respondent’s Rule 4(c) Report and Proffer of Compensation at 1. Specifically,
Respondent believes “that [P]etitioner has satisfied the criteria set forth in the Vaccine
Injury Table (Table) and the Qualifications and Aids to Interpretation (QAI).” Id. at 3.
Respondent further agrees that “based on the record as it now stands, [P]etitioner has
satisfied all legal prerequisites for compensation under the Act.” Id.
In view of Respondent’s position and the evidence of record, I find that
Petitioner is entitled to compensation.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
s/Brian H. Corcoran
Brian H. Corcoran
Chief Special Master
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