Vaccine Case to the US Supreme Court

This is an open letter to my friends and colleagues of the autism community. I have always believed our best chance for justice regarding vaccines lay, both literally and figuratively, in the courts. Our day in court may be drawing near. Mary Holland, Bob Krakow, Barbara Loe Fischer, and others have prepared a draft amicus brief to submit to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to hear the case of Bruesewitz v. Wyeth and decide that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard the case, wrongly interpreted the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act.

 I know how busy you are and how many requests you receive. I do not ask you lightly to take the time to review the material and if you are in agreement to email the address below. Thank you.  

 Ed Arranga, Executive Director

AutismOne

Executive Summary

A U.S. court of appeals in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth recently decided that a vaccine-injured child has no right to sue a vaccine manufacturer in civil court for a vaccine that was defective and could have been made safer.   The Third Circuit interpreted the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act as an "exclusive remedy" under the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) and made  “vaccine court” a child’s ONLY option for compensation.  That is not what the 1986 law says and it’s not what Congress intended.  Congress created the VICP as an alternative to a lawsuit, not an exclusive remedy. 

Because state laws compel vaccination, it is essential that industry and government have real incentives to produce the safest vaccines possible.  To achieve such incentives, Congress drafted a law to ensure that the vaccine injured have access to civil court in cases of design defect, criminal fraud, gross negligence and when vaccine court offers too little compensation or none at all.  In the Bruesewitz case, after many years, vaccine court offerred Hannah Bruesewitz no compensation for her disability and seizure disorder that developed shortly after her third DPT shot.  And the Third Circuit has denied her right the to pursue her claim in court, even though the 1986 statute gives her that right.

We are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the appellate court’s flawed decision and to uphold the lawful rights of vaccine-injured children.  Under the 1986 law, an injured child has the right to his or her day in court so that a jury can decide, based on the evidence, whether a manufacturer’s vaccine design caused the child’s injury.

Sign On

If you or your organization wish to sign on then write to Bruesewitz case with your name, address and phone number by FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 at 12:00 noon. You will receive a confirmation.  This information is included on the amicus brief as well.

Mary Holland, Esq. 
is a founding member of the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law & Advocacy and is the Director of the Graduate Legal Skills Program at New York University School of Law. Educated at Harvard and Columbia Universities, Mary has been an advocate in the public and private sectors. Prior to joining NYU, she worked for six years at major U.S. law firms, with three years based in Moscow, Russia.  Before that, she directed the European Program of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First). After graduating law school, she clerked for a federal district court judge in New York City. She researches and writes on legal issues related to autism and vaccines and consults to the Aspen Institute Justice and Society Program.

Robert Krakow, Esq. is an attorney in private practice in New York. Bob started his legal career with the New York Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy organization. For nine years in the 1980s Bob was a prosecutor with the New York County (Manhattan) District Attorney's office, serving as Bureau Chief of the special narcotics prosecution division. He founded his law firm in 1989, focusing on the trial of civil and criminal cases, and specializing in the representation of individuals injured by exposure to vaccines. Bob represents families of children with autism in a variety of venues, including insurance coverage disputes, vaccine exemption issues, IDEA education disputes with school districts, and claims by educational and medical neglect. He has also represented medical and legal professionals in disciplinary matters and civil litigation. Since 2002 Bob has served a the Board Chair of Lifespire, Inc., a 59 year-old New York and New Jersey not-for-profit organization that provides residential, day habilitation, occupational, educational and medical programs and supports for more than 6000 developmentally disabled adults and children. Bob was co-founder of Autism United, a founding Board member of the National Autism Association and former Board member of SafeMinds. In 2005, Bob co-founded A-CHAMP (Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning), now known as the Autism Action Network (www.autismactionnetwork.org), a national political action organization that advocates for children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Most recently, Bob is co-founder of the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy, the first and only center of its kind that seeks to develop legal advocacy for families and children in all aspects of autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders.

Click for Amicus Brief to US Supreme Court

Click for Bruesewitz Petition to the US Supreme Court