Panera Bread’s Caffeine-Loaded Lemonade Faces Second Wrongful Death

Panera Bread is in the midst of another wrongful death lawsuit after a family in Florida alleged the restaurant’s caffeine-fueled lemonade caused Dennis Brown’s death, according to ABC News.

The lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Delaware claims that on Oct. 9, Dennis Brown from Fleming Island, Florida, consumed three of the drinks without knowing they were loaded with high levels of caffeine before suffering from a fatal cardiac arrest on his journey home.

Brown, a 46-year-old, long-standing grocery store employee, suffered from ADHD, development delay, and a chromosomal deficiency disorder. However, he still lived independently on his own, and he never drank energy drinks due to his high blood pressure, according to the complaint.

The charged lemonade was not promoted as an energy drink; instead, it was offered alongside Panera’s other beverages, which contain less or no caffeine. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Brown’s family, asserts that there were no warning signs regarding the potential risks linked with consuming large quantities of concentrated caffeine and sugar.

The well-known fast-food chain issued alerts at the end of October and added the sign “charged lemonade” on the menu to indicate how highly caffeinated the drink is. This was a reaction to another lawsuit earlier this year which alleged that Sarah Katz, a 21-year-old woman with a heart condition, died in September 2022 after having the same beverage. The suit claimed that the product included no disclaimer, even though it contained more caffeine than Monster Energy Drink and Red Bull put together.

Panera expressed sympathy for Brown’s family but disputed a link between his death and its caffeinated drinks, a CBS News report suggests.

“Based on our investigation, 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 the previous claim, to be equally without merit. Panera stands firmly by the safety of our products,” a company spokesperson told CBS News.

The large 30-ounce charged lemonade was listed on Panera’s menu as containing 390 milligrams at the time of the first lawsuit, which is just 10 milligrams less than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recommended daily maximum adult consumption amount of caffeine.

According to ABC Atlanta affiliate station WSB, Brown’s encouraging living coach, Deann Burgess, said that Brown “did not buy energy drinks or anything like that.” His family reiterated this by saying that he avoided energy drinks because of his high blood pressure.

However, the lawsuit indicates Brown had been drinking charged lemonades for six days leading up to his death.

Speaking about the guidelines of caffeine consumption, ABC News medical contributor Dr. Darien Sutton said, “Generally at lower doses, caffeine is not harmful, but at higher doses we begin to discuss the negative effects they can have on our body.” He added, “The FDA recommends that the average adult drinks no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day.”

The FDA acknowledged that there is a wide variation both in how sensitive people are to the effects of caffeine and the speed at which their bodies process it, particularly for certain health conditions and some medications, which the FDA noted “can make people more sensitive to caffeine’s effects.”