Off-Table causation wins

Live · 13,358 cases in database · latest filing 2026-05-12

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

168

reasoned decisions finding causation

Shown

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
2026-03-02	Carolann Sinclair	Pneumococcal	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Thomas L. Gowen	John, Lawrence Steinman, John Hixson	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	entitlement
2025-12-30	Donna Faye McKenney	Pneumococcal	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Thomas L. Gowen	David, Axelrod, Kevin Jamison	Off-Table	entitlement
2025-09-23	Doris DiPonziano	Pneumococcal	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Thomas L. Gowen	Robert Knobler, Robert Hyzy	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	$250K
2025-07-08	Noah E. Musick	Pneumococcal	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Thomas L. Gowen	Lawrence Steinman	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	entitlement
2025-01-15	R.S.	Pneumococcal	Transverse myelitis	Herbrina Sanders Young	not identified	Off-Table	—
2024-07-29	Jeffrey Cooper	Pneumococcal	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Daniel T. Horner	not identified	Off-Table	$181K
2024-07-08	Dianne Byrd	Pneumococcal	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Thomas L. Gowen	David Axelrod	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	entitlement
2024-04-26	Donald D. Meyer	Pneumococcal	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$454K
2022-10-26	Nancy Rissler	Pneumococcal	SIRVA	Herbrina Sanders Young	not identified	Off-Table	$40K
2022-09-22	Jennifer Gross	Pneumococcal	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	entitlement
2022-05-03	Carolyn Pierson	Pneumococcal	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Daniel T. Horner	not identified	Off-Table	$155K
2018-09-13	Shelly A. Chmielewski	Pneumococcal	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$135K
2016-04-26	M.R.	Pneumococcal	Seizure disorder	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$215K
2011-07-05	Hayley Graves	Pneumococcal	Seizure disorder	Christian J. Moran	Marcel Kinsbourne	Althen analysis	—

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.