ATLANTA (AP)- An Atlanta couple's lawsuit that claims a vaccine
manufacturer's product caused neurological damage to their son can
go forward.

The Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous decision Monday concluded
that a 1986 federal law that has blocked other complaints against
vaccine companies does not bar the lawsuit from Marcelo and Carolyn
Ferrari from going to trial.

The decision upheld a ruling by the Georgia Court of Appeals,
which became the first appellate court in the nation to hold that
the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act does not
pre-empt state law.

The Ferrari family claims their son, Stefan Ferrari, was a
talkative toddler until he got a round of booster shots with a
mercury preservative. Now age 10, he hasn't spoken since those
shots.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)