Godfrey v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 10-565

Petitioner Megan L. Godfrey filed a Vaccine Program petition alleging the HPV vaccine (Aug 22, 2007) caused juvenile ankylosing spondylitis; petition filed Aug 20, 2010.
An entitlement hearing occurred Dec 10, 2012; Chief Special Master Vowell denied entitlement on June 11, 2014; Petitioner sought review which produced a remand and subsequent denial that was sustained on review.
Interim attorney’s fees and costs were previously awarded by stipulation on Dec 2, 2014.
Petitioner filed an unopposed motion for final attorney’s fees and costs on Aug 24, 2016, seeking $44,275.95 (fees $44,184.50; costs $91.45) and represented no out-of-pocket litigation expenses.
Respondent did not object to the requested amount; Special Master Corcoran approved the full requested award and ordered judgment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Reasonableness of requested attorney’s fees and costs	Request $44,275.95 as reasonable and supported	No objection to the amount	Approved in full as reasonable
Out‑of‑pocket litigation expenses	Petitioner states none were incurred	Respondent silent / no objection	Petitioner represented no out‑of‑pocket expenses; accepted
Form of payment	Payment should be made to petitioner and counsel	No objection	Award payable jointly to Petitioner and counsel Milton Ragsdale
Entry of judgment and finality	Petitioner sought entry of judgment for awarded fees	Respondent did not object	Clerk ordered to enter judgment absent a motion for review

Koehn v. Sec’y of Health & Human Servs., 773 F.3d 1239 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (Federal Circuit decision discussed on remand but found not to change the entitlement outcome)