The household of a 46-year-old Florida man has filed a wrongful loss of life and negligence lawsuit in opposition to one of many largest fast-casual restaurant chains within the U.S., claiming Panera Bread Firm’s caffeine-filled lemonade drink led to his loss of life.
David Brown had hypertension and didn’t drink vitality drinks, however the lawsuit mentioned he believed the Panera Charged Lemonade was protected because it was not marketed as an vitality drink. It was supplied in the identical place because the restaurant chain’s non-caffeinated or less-caffeinated drinks, in accordance with the lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Courtroom in Delaware, the place Panera Bread Firm is registered.
The lawsuit states that on Oct. 9, Brown had the drink thrice throughout a go to to the Panera Bread Firm location in Fleming Island, Florida. On his stroll house, he suffered cardiac arrest and died a short while later. He had ordered a Panera Charged Lemonade at the least seven instances over the course of two weeks in September and October, in accordance with the lawsuit.
“Defendants knew or should have known that the Panera Charged Lemonade, as designed and formulated, once consumed, could injure children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people sensitive to caffeine by causing catastrophic injuries and/or death,” the lawsuit mentioned.
Nobody from Panera’s company places of work responded to an inquiry searching for remark Tuesday afternoon.
Brown had a chromosomal deficiency dysfunction, developmental delays, some blurred imaginative and prescient and gentle mental incapacity, the lawsuit mentioned. He had labored for 17 years at Publix Super Markets and would commonly go to the Panera restaurant after work for meals, as many as thrice per week, as a result of the lawsuit mentioned he felt the chain marketed as being a wholesome different to different eating places.
One other wrongful loss of life lawsuit was filed in October by the household of 21-year-old Sarah Katz, a College of Pennsylvania scholar with a coronary heart situation who died in September 2022 after consuming the drink, in accordance with media stories.
The privately-held Panera Bread Firm, which is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, operates in 48 U.S. states and Canada.
