Schultz v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 15-702

Petitioner Judith Schultz filed a Vaccine Act petition alleging a shoulder injury causally related to a September 22, 2014 influenza vaccine; compensation was awarded by stipulation on July 13, 2016.
After the award, petitioner sought attorneys’ fees and costs totaling $20,457.91 (fees $18,874.50; costs $1,583.41) and represented that petitioner had no out-of-pocket expenses.
Respondent stated she had no role in fee resolution but agreed statutory requirements for an award were met and suggested a $12,000–$14,000 reasonable range without explanation.
Petitioner filed a reply contesting respondent’s proposed range and submitted contemporaneous billing records; also requested an additional $275 (one hour) for preparing the reply without a detailed billing entry.
The Special Master reviewed the records, found the overall request reasonable, awarded the additional $275 for the reply, and granted fees and costs in the total amount of $20,732.91 as a lump sum payable jointly to petitioner and counsel.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Entitlement to attorneys’ fees and costs under the Vaccine Act	Schultz sought reasonable fees and costs after receiving compensation	Respondent agreed statutory requirements were met (no role in fee resolution)	Award of attorneys’ fees and costs permitted and appropriate
Reasonableness of requested amount	Billing records support the requested $20,457.91 as reasonable	Proposes $12,000–$14,000 without justification	Special Master found submitted fees and hours reasonable and declined reduction
Additional fee for preparing reply	Requested $275 (one hour) for reply preparation; billing entry detail not provided	No opposition noted to this specific request	Special Master deemed one hour reasonable and awarded the $275
Form of award and limitations on further collection	Sought lump-sum payment jointly to petitioner and counsel; counsel represented no additional client charges	Respondent did not contest proposed form	Awarded $20,732.91 lump sum jointly payable; attorney cannot collect additional fees beyond award (per statute)

Beck v. Sec’y of Health & Human Servs., 924 F.2d 1029 (Fed. Cir. 1991) (attorney fee awards under the Vaccine Act encompass all charges and prevent additional collection by counsel)