After a lawsuit was filed in October alleging that Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade beverages led to the death of a 21-year-old woman in 2022, NBC News reports that Panera has just been hit with a second lawsuit related to the energy drink.
A lawsuit filed Monday in Delaware alleges Panera Bread’s highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade led to the death of a 46-year-old Florida resident. Per the filing, the man drank three servings of Charged Lemonade on October 9 purchased at a local Panera. The man then suffered fatal cardiac arrest on his way home. The death certificate provided to NBC lists the official cause of death as “cardiac arrest due to hypertensive disease.”
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the victim’s family members, explains that the victim would often visit the local Panera restaurant on his way home from working at the local supermarket. Due to high blood pressure, he did not consume energy drinks; it’s unclear whether he was aware of the amount of caffeine in the Charged Lemonades. At the time of his death, these beverages were available in self-serve dispensers at the local Panera Bread, “offered side-by-side with all of the store’s non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drinks,” the lawsuit notes.