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
2026-02-20	Nicholas Gillon	Tdap	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Thomas L. Gowen	David, David M. Simpson	Off-Table	entitlement
2025-12-18	Douglas Billing	Tdap	Other / multiple	Thomas L. Gowen	Marcel, Akbari, Kinsbourne	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	entitlement
2025-11-03	Timothy Riese	Tdap	Other / multiple	Daniel T. Horner	Ahmed	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	entitlement
2025-07-11	Elizabeth Doles	Tdap	Other / multiple	Daniel T. Horner	not identified	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	$137K
2024-12-16	Melissa Fisk	Tdap	Other / multiple	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	entitlement
2024-06-21	Ala Mohamad	Tdap	Guillain-Barré Syndrome	Christian J. Moran	Shafrir	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	$919K
2024-06-05	I.J.	Tdap	Transverse myelitis	Brian H. Corcoran	not identified	Off-Table	$2.1M
2024-05-01	Michael Schwarz	Tdap	Other / multiple	Katherine E. Oler	Yuval Shafrir	Althen analysis (Table also discussed)	entitlement
2023-12-15	Jamie Rothstein	Tdap	Transverse myelitis	Mindy Michaels Roth	Marcel Kinsbourne, Vera Byers	Off-Table	entitlement
2023-08-02	K.N.	Tdap	Encephalitis / encephalopathy	Brian H. Corcoran	not identified	Off-Table	$194K
2023-06-21	Steven Lapidus, MD	Tdap	SIRVA	Brian H. Corcoran	not identified	Off-Table	$30K
2023-05-30	Minh Le	Tdap	Transverse myelitis	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$130K
2023-03-22	Alicia Skinner-Smith	Tdap	Other / multiple	Nora Beth Dorsey	Lapp	Off-Table	$15K
2022-12-28	Raymond Markarian	Tdap	Brachial neuritis	Mindy Michaels Roth	not identified	Off-Table	entitlement
2022-10-19	Robert Introini	Tdap	Transverse myelitis	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	entitlement
2022-08-09	Lisa Colbert	Tdap	SIRVA	Daniel T. Horner	not identified	Off-Table	$58K
2021-07-15	Radhika Agarwal	Tdap	Encephalitis / encephalopathy	Thomas L. Gowen	not identified	Off-Table	$2.0M
2020-10-20	Scott Taylor	Tdap	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	entitlement
2019-05-21	Carmen Moreno Lozano	Tdap	Encephalitis / encephalopathy	Brian H. Corcoran	Norman Latov	Off-Table	$1.3M
2018-02-07	Christi Jewell	Tdap	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$82K
2017-01-23	H.J.	Tdap	Other / multiple	Lisa D. Hamilton-Fieldman	not identified	Off-Table	$1.4M
2016-05-16	Duke Duquette	Tdap	Complex regional pain syndrome	Brian H. Corcoran	not identified	Off-Table	$132K
2016-03-21	Leigha Romig	Tdap	SIRVA	Nora Beth Dorsey	not identified	Off-Table	$82K

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.