Former Houston resident sues Blue Bell over listeria infection
Suit claims bacteria left man, 32, unconscious and near death.
A former Houston resident is suing Blue Bell Creameries in federal court, claiming he developed a severe infection after eating the company’s ice cream products.
David Philip Shockley, 32, an associate executive director of a retirement community, filed in Austin in U.S. district court Tuesday, seeking an unspecified amount of money from the company. Shockley alleges several Blue Bell ice cream products he consumed at work came from an Oklahoma facility where authorities said traces of listeria were found in 2013.
“We are aware of the lawsuit that has been filed, and we take all such matters very seriously,” Blue Bell spokeswoman Jenny Van Dorf said Wednesday. “That said, we hope people will understand that because this situation involves litigation, we are not able to discuss any details of the matter.”
Listeria is a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria called Listeria monocytogenes, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns and people with weakened immune systems.
The lawsuit claims Shockley had consumed several contaminated Blue Bell ice cream products. The bacteria infected his blood and,
according to the suit, “migrated to his brain where it caused extensive damage, leaving him unconscious and near death.”
In 2013, Shockley had called 911 because of a severe headache and nausea, but he was released from the hospital after medics said he only had a migraine. The suit says he lost consciousness after returning home and was later found by friends to be “unresponsive, pale, febrile and in clear respiratory distress.”
He was diagnosed with listeria meningitis with encephalitis based on a test that found listeria in his brain and spinal fluid, the lawsuit says.
Shockley received neurological treatment and rehabilitation therapies. But because he suffered from brain dam age, physical injuries and motor skill impairment, among other conditions that “will continue for the rest of his life,” the lawsuit says, he returned to his childhood home in Maryland where his parents are caring for him.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration linked 10 listeria cases to Blue Bell products. Three infected patients died. Blue Bell issued a recall of all its products in late April after listeria was found at one of its two Brenham plants.