Carda v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 14-191

Petitioners (Kyle and Shannon Carda) filed a Vaccine Program petition on behalf of their minor child, alleging intussusception caused by RotaTeq vaccinations given Jan 23, 2013 and Mar 26, 2013; the entitlement hearing occurred Jan 24–25, 2017.
Petitioners filed two interim fee requests: the first (July 2016) sought $54,870.21; Special Master Corcoran granted part ($34,122.83), awarding reduced expert rates and half of certain expert costs, with remaining expert fees potentially claimable after hearing.
Petitioners’ second interim request (Feb 16, 2017) sought $75,798.45 (additional attorney fees and costs, and $31,964.98 in past and current expert costs), plus $1,852.37 in petitioners’ personal travel expenses to the hearing.
Respondent filed a limited response deferring to the Special Master on the appropriateness of an interim award and otherwise noting no objection to statutory eligibility; Respondent emphasized that Vaccine Act/Rule do not contemplate a substantive role for Respondent in fee resolution.
The Special Master re-evaluated expert hourly rates (previously set at $400/hr) and awarded expert time at $400/hr (and travel at half that rate), awarded previously withheld expert-hours now that experts testified, approved petitioners’ travel expenses in full, but declined to award additional attorney fees at this interim stage and deferred those to a final fee application.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Appropriate hourly rate for testifying experts	Experts had requested $500/hr (top of Program range)	No substantive contest to amounts; Respondent deferred to Special Master	Rate set at $400/hr for both experts; travel time at $200/hr (half rate)
Compensation for expert hours spent preparing for and testifying at hearing	Petitioners sought specified hours at $500/hr (and travel billed at half-rate)	Respondent deferred to Special Master; no specific objection	Awarded requested hours but at $400/hr (and travel at $200/hr); totals: Dr. Santoro $12,900; Dr. Shoenfeld $11,800 including previously unpaid hours awarded now
Recovery of previously-half-awarded expert costs (held back pending evaluation of testimony value)	Petitioners sought remaining unpaid expert-time/costs after hearing	Respondent deferred to Special Master	After hearing, additional uncompensated expert hours awarded at $400/hr: $8,700 to Santoro and $2,800 to Shoenfeld (total $11,500)
Whether to award additional interim attorney fees and litigation costs now	Petitioners requested additional attorney fees/costs incurred since prior interim award	Respondent noted statutory entitlement satisfied but did not oppose Special Master discretion; argued no role in fee resolution	Special Master declined piecemeal further interim awards; deferred ruling on additional attorney fees and costs to final fee application

None (the decision did not cite any authorities that have official reporter citations)