Holt v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 18-1662V

Angela Holt filed a petition under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, alleging the influenza vaccine caused or aggravated her Linear IgA disease.
The respondent contested entitlement, leading to expert testimonies from both sides.
After submission of expert reports, the parties negotiated and entered into a stipulated settlement, which the Court approved.
Petitioner then applied for attorneys’ fees and costs, requesting a total of $104,550.64 for her attorneys and $15.00 in personal costs.
Respondent did not object to the amount but deferred to the Court’s discretion regarding the reasonableness of the fees and costs.
The Special Master reviewed the application and billing records for reasonableness, applying the lodestar method.

Issue	Holt's Argument	Secretary's Argument	Held
Entitlement to Attorneys’ Fees and Costs	Entitled to reasonable fees/costs after receiving award	No objection; criteria met	Petitioner is entitled to reasonable fees/costs
Reasonableness of Hourly Rates	Requested rates consistent with prior awards	No objection	Hourly rates are reasonable
Reasonableness of Hours Expended	Billed hours reasonable, well-documented	No objection	Hours requested are reasonable
Reasonableness of Costs	Costs, including expert fees, are reasonable and supported	No objection	All requested costs are reasonable

Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886 (reasonable attorney’s fee determination method)
Saxton v. Sec’y of Health & Human Servs., 3 F.3d 1517 (Standard for reasonable hours in fee applications)
Davis Cty. Solid Waste Mgmt. and Energy Recovery Special Serv. Dist. v. U.S. Envtl. Prot. Agency, 169 F.3d 755 (exception to forum-rate rule in attorney’s fee calculations)
Avera v. Sec’y of Health & Human Servs., 515 F.3d 1343 (lodestar framework adoption for Vaccine Act fee awards)