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      "ANDREW GOETZ and CATHERINE GOETZ, Personal Representatives and Guardians ad Litem for the minor child HAYDEN L. GOETZ, Claimants v. WYETH-LEDERLE VACCINES and N.C. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Respondents"
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    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "CALABRIA, Judge.\nAndrew Goetz, Catherine Goetz, and Hayden L. Goetz (collectively \u201cclaimants\u201d) appeal from a decision and order of the North Carolina Industrial Commission (the \u201cCommission\u201d) denying their claim for damages under the North Carolina Childhood Vaccine-Related Injury Compensation Program. We vacate and remand.\nOn 14 May 1993, Hayden L. Goetz (\u201cHayden\u201d) was born to Andrew and Catherine Goetz (\u201cMr. and Mrs. Goetz\u201d). On 6 July, 31 August, and 19 November 1993, Hayden received doses of diphtheria/ pertussis/tetanus vaccine (\u201cDPT shot\u201d) manufactured by Wyeth-Lederle Vaccine\u2019s predecessor, Lederle Labs. According to Mr. and Mrs. Goetz, after each DPT shot, Hayden had fevers ranging from 102-106 degrees and was irritable. The evening after the second shot, he awoke screaming and screamed inconsolably for approximately forty-five minutes. After the second and particularly the third DPT shot, Mr. and Mrs. Goetz and Hayden\u2019s grandmother noticed that Hayden seemed lethargic, limp, less responsive, and over time appeared to lag in reaching his developmental milestones. In July 1996, when Hayden was age three, a pediatric neurologist determined that Hayden had a non-progressive alteration in brain functioning, termed a \u201cstatic encephalopathy,\u201d due to an unknown cause and that he suffered from some degree of mental retardation.\nIn March 1999, claimants filed a claim for a vaccine-related injury in the United States Court of Federal Claims pursuant to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. In January 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dismissed their claim for violation of the applicable statute of limitations. Having exhausted their federal claims, claimants filed a claim for vaccine-related injury pursuant to the North Carolina Childhood Vaccine-Related Injury Compensation Program. On 17 March 2003, a deputy commissioner, sitting for the Commission, denied their claim. On 24 March 2003, claimants appealed to the Commission. A panel of three commissioners heard oral arguments in the matter. Immediately following oral arguments, one commissioner recused himself from review of the appeal. The remaining two commissioners reviewed the appeal and entered a \u201cDecision and Order\u201d on 25 November 2003 denying their claim. From this \u201cDecision and Order,\u201d claimants appeal.\nThere are no North Carolina appellate court opinions reviewing the North Carolina Childhood Vaccine-Related Injury Compensation Program (the \u201cvaccine injury act\u201d or the \u201cact\u201d), N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7\u00a7 130A-422 through 434 (2003). Therefore, a brief overview of the act is provided. The vaccine injury act became effective 1 October 1986 and \u201capplies to all claims for vaccine-related injuries . . . .\u201d N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-432 (2003). Similar to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, 42 U.S.C. \u00a7\u00a7 300aa-10 through 34 (2003), the vaccine injury act is an attempt to address concerns regarding the inability of the civil tort system to provide sufficient compensation to children injured by childhood immunizations and also concerns about maintaining the viability of a shrinking number of childhood vaccine manufacturers. See Daniel A. Cantor, Striking a Balance Between Product Availability and Product Safety: Lessons from the Vaccine Act, 44 Am. U.L. Rev. 1853, 1858-60 (1995) (examining the aims of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program). To these ends, the vaccine injury act authorizes the Commission \u201cto hear and pass upon all claims filed pursuant to [the vaccine injury act].\u201d N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-424 (2003). The act also provides that a claim may be filed with the Commission only after a claimant has exhausted his remedies under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program or other federal law. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-423(bl) (2003). In addition, the rights and remedies provided claimants under the vaccine injury act\u2019s provisions are exclusive. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-423(b) (2003). However, nothing in the act prohibits \u201ca civil action against a vaccine manufacturer for damages for a vaccine-related injury or death if the action is not barred by federal law . . . .\u2019\u2019N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-423(c) (2003).\nAfter a claim is filed under the act, the Commission conducts a hearing, and a member of the Commission or a deputy thereof, sitting for the Commission, determines whether a claimant sustained a vaccine-related injury. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-424. If the commissioner or deputy determines \u201cthat a claimant has sustained a vaccine-related injury, the Commission [must] make an award providing compensation or services . . . .\u201d N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-427(a) (2003). The monetary compensation for an injured individual may not exceed $300,000, and any services provided are not included as a part of the monetary compensation but are in addition to it. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-427(b) (2003). After the commissioner or deputy makes a decision, any party to the proceedings has fifteen days to appeal the decision to the Commission. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-428(b) (2003). The appeal must \u201cbe heard by the Commission, sitting as a full commission, on the basis of the record in the matter and upon oral argument of the parties . . . .\u201d Id. Any party may appeal the Commission\u2019s decision to this Court for errors of law within thirty days. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-428(c) (2003).\nClaimants first assert the plain language of N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-428(b), that an appeal \u201cbe heard by the Commission, sitting as a full commission . . . [,]\u201d requires the entire seven member body of the Commission to hear all appeals under the act. Claimants, however, failed to properly preserve this issue for appellate review. Under N.C. R. App. R 10(b)(1), \u201c[i]n order to preserve a question for appellate review, a party must have presented ... a timely request, objection or motion, stating the specific grounds for the ruling the party desired . . . .\u201d The record contains no evidence that claimants objected to the size or composition of the three commissioner panel at any time prior to the close of the hearing. Moreover, were we to consider this issue, the clear statutory requirement that a panel of three commissioners review awards under the Worker\u2019s Compensation Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 97-85 (2003), and the Commission\u2019s practice of sitting in panels of three to hear appeals under the Tort Claims Act, which requires that appeals \u201cbe heard by the Industrial Commission, sitting as a full Commission . . . [,]\u201d N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 143-292, make unpersuasive claimants\u2019 assertion that the legislature\u2019s use of the term \u201cfull commission\u201d in N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-428(b) was intended to mean something other than a panel of three commissioners.\nIn the alternative, claimants assert the panel\u2019s \u201cDecision and Order\u201d are invalid because only two commissioners reviewed their appeal. As noted above, both the vaccine injury act and the Worker\u2019s Compensation Act require that each appeal be decided by a panel of three commissioners. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-428(b); N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 97-85. Based on this similarity, we may obtain guidance from worker\u2019s compensation precedent in addressing claimants\u2019 assertion.\nIn two worker\u2019s compensation cases, Pearson v. C.P. Buckner Steel Erection, 139 N.C. App. 394, 533 S.E.2d 532 (2000), and Tew v. E.B. Davis Elec. Co., 142 N.C. App. 120, 541 S.E.2d 764 (2001), this Court was faced with an opinion by the Commission signed by only two of three commissioners. The third commissioner in each case had participated in the review of the appeal but had been unavailable to sign the opinion before filing. Pearson, 139 N.C. App. at 400, 533 S.E.2d at 535; Tew, 142 N.C. App. at 122, 541 S.E.2d at 766. In both cases, this Court upheld the Commission\u2019s opinion because each opinion \u201chad been reviewed by three commissioners and rendered by a majority of the members of that panel. . . .\u201d Tew, 142 N.C. App. at 122, 541 S.E.2d at 766.\nThe instant case not only involves one commissioner\u2019s inability to sign the decision at the time of filing but also the commissioner\u2019s recusal immediately after oral arguments and absence during review of the appeal. Although a decision may be rendered by a two commissioner majority when the third commissioner is unavailable to sign at the time of filing, the appeal must nonetheless \u201cbe heard by the Commission, sitting as a full commission . . . [,]\u201d meaning a panel of three commissioners. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-428(b) (emphasis added). The review of an appeal by only two commissioners does not constitute a hearing by \u201ca full commission.\u201d Id. Therefore, in the instant case, the review of claimants\u2019 appeal by only two commissioners violated N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 130A-428(b) and made the \u201cDecision and Order\u201d invalid as a matter of law. Accordingly, the Commission\u2019s \u201cDecision and Order\u201d are vacated, and the cause is remanded for a new hearing. Having so held, we need not address claimants\u2019 remaining assignments of error.\nVacated and remanded.\nJudges HUNTER and LEVINSON concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "CALABRIA, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Wallace, Creech & Sarda, L.L.P., by Peter J. Sarda, John R. Wallace, and Joseph A. Newsome, for claimants-appellants.",
      "Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General Stacey A. Phipps, for respondents-appellees."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "ANDREW GOETZ and CATHERINE GOETZ, Personal Representatives and Guardians ad Litem for the minor child HAYDEN L. GOETZ, Claimants v. WYETH-LEDERLE VACCINES and N.C. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Respondents\nNo. COA04-387\n(Filed 1 March 2005)\n1. Public Health\u2014 vaccine injury act \u2014 appeal\u2014full commission \u2014 panel of three\nThe language of N.C.G.S. \u00a7 130A-428(b) stating that an appeal be heard by the Industrial Commission sitting as a full commission does not require the entire seven-member body of the Industrial Commission to hear all appeals under the Childhood Vaccine-Related Injury Compensation Program, but instead means a panel of three commissioners.\n2. Public Health\u2014 vaccine injury act \u2014 appeal\u2014consideration by two commissioners \u2014 full panel required\nThe Industrial Commission erred in an action for damages under the North Carolina Childhood Vaccine-Related Injury Compensation Program by allowing the' case to be reviewed by only two commissioners and the case is remanded for a new hearing, because: (1) the vaccine injury act requires that each appeal be decided by a panel of three commissioners, N.C.G.S. \u00a7 130A-428(b); (2) the instant case not only involves one commissioner\u2019s inability to sign the decision at the time of filing but also the commissioner\u2019s recusal immediately after oral arguments and absence during review of the appeal; and (3) although a decision may be rendered by a two-commissioner majority when the third commissioner is unavailable to sign at the time of filing, the appeal must be heard by the Commission sitting as a full commission, meaning a panel of three commissioners.\nAppeal by claimants from decision and order entered 25 November 2003 by the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Heard in the Court of Appeals 3 November 2004.\nWallace, Creech & Sarda, L.L.P., by Peter J. Sarda, John R. Wallace, and Joseph A. Newsome, for claimants-appellants.\nAttorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General Stacey A. Phipps, for respondents-appellees."
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  "file_name": "0712-01",
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