Off-Table causation wins

Live · 13,300 cases in database · latest filing 2026-06-08

The citable precedent set for causation-in-fact. These are the reasoned decisions in which a Special Master found, under Althen v. HHS, that a vaccine more likely than not caused an injury that is not on the Vaccine Injury Table, or fell outside its onset window. Filter by condition and vaccine to find the decisions, Special Masters and experts behind a theory that has already succeeded.

Off-Table wins

148

reasoned decisions finding causation

Shown

148

after filters

Conditions

distinct categories

With named expert

petitioner expert identified in text

Off-Table causation wins by condition

Reasoned decisions where the petitioner proved causation without a Table presumption.

Decisions

Decided	Case	Vaccine	Condition	Special Master	Petitioner's expert(s)	Basis	Award
2019-09-30	Maya Sandoval	Influenza	SIRVA	Thomas L. Gowen	not identified	Off-Table	$369K
2019-09-24	J.S.	Influenza	Transverse myelitis	Brian H. Corcoran	not identified	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	$902K
2019-09-04	Monica Portee	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$116K
2019-08-07	Deborah Kent	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$83K
2019-07-08	Elizabeth Schandel	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$86K
2019-06-12	Wendy Borders	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$70K
2019-05-21	Carmen Moreno Lozano	Tdap	Encephalitis / encephalopathy	Brian H. Corcoran	Norman Latov	Off-Table	$1.3M
2019-05-07	Cheryl Gill	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$70K
2019-04-02	Courtney P. Binette	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$178K
2018-12-17	Michael Ray	Td/Tetanus	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	—
2018-11-08	Kimberly S. Thompson	Influenza	Other / multiple	Laura D. Millman	not identified	Off-Table	$708K
2018-11-07	Jodi Cooper	Hepatitis A	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$114K
2018-10-18	Gail Dirksen	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$87K
2018-09-13	Shelly A. Chmielewski	Pneumococcal	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$135K
2018-08-29	Wossen Tariku	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$70K
2018-05-15	Madison Astle	Varicella	Encephalitis / encephalopathy	Nora Beth Dorsey	Carlo Tornatore	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	—
2018-03-26	Deborah Marino	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$75K
2018-02-26	Emily Tarsell, as the Executrix of the Estate of Christina Tarsell	HPV	Death	Christian J. Moran	not identified	Althen analysis	$310K
2018-02-07	Christi Jewell	Tdap	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$82K
2018-02-01	Amrit Dhanoa	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$96K
2018-01-11	Diane Scott	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$70K
2017-12-01	Steven Zebofsky	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$55K
2017-11-06	E.R.	DTaP	Seizure disorder	Lisa D. Hamilton-Fieldman	not identified	Althen analysis	$1.4M
2017-10-31	Betty D. Backman	Influenza	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$45K
2017-09-01	Alessandra Giannetta	Meningococcal	Other / multiple	Mindy Michaels Roth	not identified	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	entitlement
2017-05-02	A.E.	DTaP	Other / multiple	Lisa D. Hamilton-Fieldman	not identified	Althen analysis	$4.8M
2017-04-25	Lisa Turner	Hepatitis B	Encephalitis / encephalopathy	Thomas L. Gowen	not identified	Off-Table	$1.0M
2017-02-22	R.B.	HPV	Encephalitis / encephalopathy	Brian H. Corcoran	David Axelrod	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	—
2017-01-23	H.J.	Tdap	Other / multiple	Lisa D. Hamilton-Fieldman	not identified	Off-Table	$1.4M
2016-12-15	L.A.	Influenza	Encephalitis / encephalopathy	Daniel T. Horner	Carlo Tornatore	Althen analysis	$1.4M
2016-08-30	Megan Morgan	HPV	Other / multiple	Thomas L. Gowen	not identified	Off-Table	$800K
2016-05-25	Megan L. Godfrey	HPV	Other / multiple	Denise K. Vowell	Michael McCabe	Off-Table	$142K
2016-03-21	Andrew Rodd	Influenza	Other / multiple	Thomas L. Gowen	not identified	Off-Table	$871K
2016-03-21	Leigha Romig	Tdap	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$82K
2015-12-18	Donna Ramsay	HPV	Other / multiple	Lisa D. Hamilton-Fieldman	Michael McCabe	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	—
2015-05-22	Rachel McCulloch	HPV	Encephalitis / encephalopathy	Thomas L. Gowen	not identified	Althen analysis	$1.4M
2015-03-11	Marlon Sporer	Td/Tetanus	Other / multiple	Thomas L. Gowen	not identified	Off-Table	$175K
2014-10-07	Roswell Perez	Influenza	Other / multiple	Thomas L. Gowen	not identified	Off-Table	—
2014-09-18	Fred Brock	Influenza	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Thomas L. Gowen	not identified	Off-Table	—
2014-08-22	Emily Wirt	HPV	Other / multiple	Lisa D. Hamilton-Fieldman	not identified	Off-Table	$55K
2014-06-27	C.D.J.	DTaP	Seizure disorder	—	not identified	Off-Table	$31K
2011-07-05	Hayley Graves	Pneumococcal	Seizure disorder	Christian J. Moran	Marcel Kinsbourne	Althen analysis	—
2011-06-24	Stacey Heinzelman	Influenza	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	—	Marcel Kinsbourne	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	—
2010-06-03	Esther Hall	Hepatitis B	Brachial neuritis	—	not identified	Althen analysis	—
2009-09-02	Claudia Rotoli	Hepatitis B	Other / multiple	—	not identified	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	entitlement
2007-01-18	Adams	Hepatitis B	Seizure disorder	—	Tornatore	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	—
2005-08-31	Ryan Kelley	Td/Tetanus	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	—	not identified	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	—
2003-12-16	Dilema Moreno	MMR	Other / multiple	George L. Hastings Jr.	Hirseh	Off-Table	—

Selection rule. A case is listed when a Special Master issued a reasoned decision in the petitioner's favour and either the extracted theory of causation is Off-Table, or the decision text applies the Althen test. Where the text also discusses a Table injury the Basis column says so; some of those are alternative holdings or Table claims with an Althen fallback, so check the decision. SIRVA rulings are included only when explicitly Off-Table (pre-2017 shoulder claims). Expert names are read from the decision text where the opinion attributes them to the petitioner; absence means the text did not name one in a recognisable form, not that none testified. Verify against the linked decision before citing.

How off-Table causation is decided

When an injury is not on the Vaccine Injury Table, or falls outside its onset window, the petitioner must prove causation under the three-part test from Althen v. Secretary of HHS (Fed. Cir. 2005): a medical theory connecting the vaccine to the injury, a logical sequence of cause and effect in this petitioner's case, and a medically appropriate interval between vaccination and onset. The standard is preponderance of the evidence, and the Special Master weighs competing expert reports rather than requiring epidemiological proof.

That makes prior reasoned decisions the working precedent of the program. A theory accepted for a given vaccine and condition is easier to carry the second time, and the experts who carried it are the ones later petitioners retain. Decisions are not formally binding on other Special Masters, but they are cited constantly, and the Court of Federal Claims and the Federal Circuit review them for arbitrariness rather than re-trying the facts.