Houston man settles with retailer sued for dispensing wrong medication

HOUSTON - A U.S. District Court judge disposed a recent lawsuit accusing Walgreen's Corp. of giving a Houston man the wrong medication.

Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore issued a dismissal order Sept. 10, effectively ending the litigation between James Edward Briggs and Walgreen's.

Briggs first sued the retailer in Harris County District Court in May before the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas received the case the next month.

Court documents showed that the plaintiff was 17 on May 24, 2011, when he began to take medicine for two days.

He believed the medication was the antibiotic prednisone which was supposed to treat poison ivy-induced rashes and hives; however, the defendant issued him indomethacin and hydrocodone instead, they said.

The suit further asserted that Briggs suffered from chest pains, shortness of breath, dizziness, excessive sleepiness, rapid heartbeat, heavy nosebleeds and vomiting for which he sought medical attention.

Physicians at St. Luke's Hospital diagnosed and treated him for “accidental overdose.”
Briggs went on to explain that the ordeal ultimately caused him to repeat his junior year of high school.

Judge Gilmore's order notes the parties reached an amicable settlement.

It gives them a 90-day window to reinstate the suit in the event "settlement is not consummated."

Attorney John Philip Griffis of The Law Offices of Phil Griffis in Houston represented the defendant.

Case No. 4:13-CV-1796