Vaccine Claims: Equitable Tolling May Sometimes Now Apply

Last month, we discussed the fact that the limitations period for the filing of claims under the “Vaccine Act” has kept many from recovering for vaccine-related injuries. We went on to discuss one case wherein the claimant tried to stretch the boundaries, saying her case should not be time-barred. In Cloer v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 16449 (Fed. Cir. 9/5/11), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a Federal Circuit panel decision and found against a woman who had won the right to pursue her claim. That case, while foreclosing the claimant's right to seek redress, also contained the reversal of a precedent set 10 years earlier, in Brice v. Secretary of Health & Human Services, 240 F.3d 1367 (Fed. Cir. 2001). The discussion continues herein.