Rolshoven v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 14-439

Petitioner Leigh Rolshoven, as guardian for Hannah Huelsenbeck, filed a Vaccine Program petition alleging injuries (headaches, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, abducens nerve palsy, closed brain injury) from HPV and Hepatitis A vaccines; entitlement hearing held May 11–12, 2017; decision on entitlement pending.
Petitioner moved for an interim award of attorney’s fees and costs on Oct 3, 2017, seeking $121,683.65 ( $83,114.96 fees; $38,690.73 costs) plus $2,281.68 in personal travel expenses; Respondent did not oppose.
Counsel began work in 2012 (two years before filing); litigation produced multiple expert reports and required an entitlement hearing after ~3.5 years of pendency.
Petitioner requested forum (D.C.) rates for counsel and paralegals for 2012–2017; sought $500/hr for expert Dr. Lawrence Steinman (63.5 hrs) and $34,179 in expert-related costs.
Special Master found the case met established criteria for interim fees (pending >18 months; fees > $30,000; expert costs > $15,000) and applied the lodestar method, awarding the requested hourly rates and hours but reducing some expert travel and lodging charges.
Final award: interim fees and costs of $120,805.69 (joint check to petitioner and counsel) plus separate $2,281.68 reimbursed to Leigh Rolshoven for personal travel.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether interim fees and costs may be awarded before entitlement decision	Rolshoven sought interim compensation to cover significant ongoing litigation expenses and expert costs incurred over multi-year litigation	Respondent filed no opposition to the interim request	Allowed: Special Master exercised discretion to award interim fees/costs because criteria (pendency, amount, expert costs) were met and authority permits interim awards
Appropriate hourly rates for counsel and paralegals	Petitioner requested forum rates (increasing yearly for inflation/PPI‑OL) consistent with prior awards for same counsel	No opposition; rates supported by prior Vaccine Program awards	Allowed: Forum rates awarded as requested; PPI‑OL adjustment acceptable
Reasonableness of billed hours	Petitioner submitted detailed invoices showing work over 3+ years, including hearing prep and trial	No objection from Respondent	Allowed: Hours found reasonable and reimbursed in full
Reasonableness of expert fees and expenses	Requested $500/hr for Dr. Steinman and reimbursement of travel/lodging; billed first‑class flights and high hotel costs	Program precedent disfavors first‑class travel and excessive lodging	Partially reduced: Expert hourly rate and hours allowed; travel and lodging reduced by $500 each (total $1,000 reduction) resulting in slight downward adjustment to expert costs

Cloer v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs., 675 F.3d 1358 (Fed. Cir. 2012) (interim fee awards may be made before entitlement determination)
Avera v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs., 515 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (lodestar method and forum rule for determining reasonable attorney fees)
Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886 (U.S. 1984) (lodestar framework for fee awards)
Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424 (U.S. 1983) (standards for calculating reasonable attorney's fees and hours)
Sabella v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs., 86 Fed. Cl. 201 (Fed. Cl. 2009) (special master’s discretion to reduce hours sua sponte)
Presault v. United States, 52 Fed. Cl. 667 (Fed. Cl. 2002) (interim costs standard and reimbursement of reasonable litigation expenses)