A lawsuit has been filed against Panera Bread after a man’s family claims he died after drinking the company’s Charged Lemonade. The suit is the second claiming the drink has led to a death.
The suit was filed Monday by the family of Dennis Brown, 46, who claims that the Florida man went into cardiac arrest when he left the restaurant after drinking a lemonade with his meal.
According to the lawsuit, Brown consumed the lemonade with his dinner at a Panera Bread restaurant and died while he was walking home.
The suit said Brown was a regular customer at the restaurant, and had been drinking the lemonade with his meals over a six-day period. Brown was a member of Panera’s Unlimited Sip Club, a perk that allows you to order unlimited drinks.
The lawsuit claims there was no warning about the amount of caffeine in one of the drinks. One large Charged Lemonade, a 30-oz drink, contains 390 milligrams of caffeine, or the equivalent of four cups of coffee or three-and-a-half 12-oz cans of Red Bull.
Brown’s family said in the suit that he was a passionate advocate for community safety and inclusion for people with disabilities.
Along with his high blood pressure, Brown lived with ADHD, a developmental delay and a chromosomal deficiency disorder that caused him to have a mild intellectual disability and blurry vision, the suit said.
Last month, the parents of a 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania student filed a lawsuit against Panera Bread, saying their daughter died after consuming a Charged Lemonade drink.
According to the suit filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Sarah Katz had a heart condition called long QT syndrome type 1. She avoided drinks with high concentrations of caffeine at the recommendation of her doctors, the suit said.
Katz had a Charged Lemonade at the restaurant with her meal and went into cardiac arrest. She died after being transported to the hospital and suffering a second arrest, according to the lawsuit.
Her parents said there was no label on the menu or drink machine that warned of the high levels of caffeine in the drink.
After the suit was filed, a warning was posted on Panera’s mobile app that reads, “Consume in moderation, not recommended for children, people sensitive to caffeine, pregnant or nursing women.”
