A 46-year-old Florida man died after drinking three cups of Panera Bread’s highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade, according to a new lawsuit filed against the bakery-café chain on Monday.
Dennis Brown suffered a fatal “cardiac event” while walking home from a Panera in Fleming Island, Florida on Oct. 9, his family claims in a copy of the complaint obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The complaint, filed on behalf of Brown’s mother, sister, and brother, calls Charged Lemonade “dangerous” and comes less than two months after Panera was hit with a separate lawsuit over the death of Sarah Katz, a 21-year-old student. Both families are being represented by the same law firm, Kline & Specter.
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“Dennis’ family, just like the Katz family, hopes this message gets out to prevent this from happening again to anyone else,” Elizabeth Crawford, a Kline & Specter attorney, told The Daily Beast.
“Dennis was also killed by Panera’s toxic super energy drink, ‘charged lemonade,’” she said in a statement. “Dennis was a loyal Panera customer and reasonably trusted their food and drinks were safe.”
A regular-sized Charged Lemonade has 260 milligrams of caffeine, while a large has 390, according to Panera’s website. The Food and Drug Administration recommends adults consume no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine per day.
In a statement on Tuesday, Panera said it “expresses our deep sympathy for Mr. Brown’s family.”
“Based on our investigation,” the company continued, “we believe his unfortunate passing was not caused by one of the company’s products. We view this lawsuit, which was filed by the same law firm as a previous claim, to be equally without merit.”
Brown had an unspecified chromosomal deficiency disorder, a developmental delay, and a mild intellectual disability, according to the complaint. He would often stop by Panera for a meal after working shifts at a local supermarket. He did not consume energy drinks because of his high blood pressure, it states, but he ordered the Charged Lemonade “reasonably confident it was a traditional lemonade containing a reasonable amount of caffeine safe for him to drink.”
The complaint alleges that the Charged Lemonade has been marketed by Panera as “Plant-based and Clean with as much caffeine as our Dark Roast coffee.” The beverage was available in self-serve dispensers alongside “non-caffeinated offerings” on the day of his death, without any warning signage. (Some locations reportedly put up signs next to their Charged Lemonade dispensers after the Katz family’s lawsuit was filed.)
“As a man with special needs living independently,” Crawford said, Brown was “part of a vulnerable population that should be protected. And Panera failed to protect Dennis.”
