Panera settles with first plaintiff in Charged Lemonade wrongful death suits
Panera Bread has settled with the family of an Ivy League student with a heart condition who died after drinking the chain’s highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade drink.
Panera Bread has settled with the family of an Ivy League student with a heart condition who died after drinking the chain’s highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade drink.
Sarah Katz, 21, was a University of Pennsylvania student with a heart condition called long QT syndrome type 1 who avoided energy drinks per her doctors’ recommendations, according to a lawsuit filed last year in Philadelphia.
The suit said that Katz bought a Charged Lemonade from a Panera restaurant in September 2022. Her roommate and close friend told NBC News that she went into cardiac arrest hours later.
The complaint, filed on behalf of Katz’s parents, was the first of four lawsuits that Panera faced over the beverage. A second lawsuit blamed it for a Florida man’s death while the other two alleged that the Charged Lemonade caused permanent heart injuries in previously healthy people.
Panera announced in May that it was discontinuing the beverage nationwide.
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