A Rhode Island woman has sued Panera Bread, alleging the
restaurant chain’s highly caffeinated lemonade caused her to have “permanent
cardiac injuries.”
Lauren Skerritt, 28, an occupational therapist, had been an
athlete with no underlying health conditions who regularly competed in obstacle
course races, according to the suit, which was first reported by NBC News. She
now requires daily medication and has heart problems that have reduced her
ability to work, exercise and socialize, says the complaint, which was filed
Tuesday afternoon.
Lauren Skerritt
Lauren Skerritt's lawsuit says she was a competitive athlete
before she developed heart problems.Courtesy Elizabeth Crawford
The complaint says that Skerritt drank 2½ Charged Lemonade
drinks from a Panera cafe in Greenville, Rhode Island, on April 8 and then
experienced palpitations.
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The next day, it says, Skerritt went to the emergency room,
where tests showed that she had atrial fibrillation — an irregular heartbeat
that can lead to a stroke, heart complications or other serious health
problems.
Skerritt has since had “recurrent episodes of rapid
heartbeat that occur suddenly and without pattern,” says the suit, which was
filed in Delaware, where Panera is incorporated.
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Exterior of a Panera Bread restaurant in Novato, Calif., on
Nov. 9, 2021. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images file
“Lauren continues to experience supraventricular tachycardia
with associated shortness of breath, palpitations, brain fog, difficulty
thinking and concentrating, body shakes, and weakness,” the suit says, noting
that Skerritt and her husband have put plans to start a family on hold because
“she will have a high-risk pregnancy and may have complications during the
pregnancy.” Skerritt’s husband, Christopher Skerritt, is also a plaintiff.
It’s at least the third lawsuit in recent months against
Panera over its Charged Lemonade. The previous two — which were filed in
October and December, months after Skerritt drank the beverage — blamed the
lemonade for the deaths of an Ivy League student with a heart condition and a
man in Florida who had a chromosomal deficiency disorder.
Panera did not immediately comment on Tuesday’s lawsuit. It
has previously expressed sympathy for the families in the two other lawsuits;
following the second one, it said in a statement that it felt the customer's
“unfortunate passing was not caused by one of the company’s products” and that
it stands by the safety of the items on its menu.
'Everything in her life has been altered'
Panera has advertised its Charged Lemonade as “Plant-based
and Clean with as much caffeine as our Dark Roast coffee.” But at 390
milligrams, a large, 30-fluid-ounce Charged Lemonade has more caffeine in total
than any size of Panera’s dark roast coffee, the legal complaints say,
referring to the amount that is in the drink with no ice. A large cup of
Charged Lemonade contains more than the caffeine content of standard cans of
Red Bull and Monster energy drinks combined, plus the equivalent of almost 30 teaspoons
of sugar, according to the complaints.
The Food and Drug Administration says healthy adults can
generally safely consume 400 milligrams of caffeine a day.
Elizabeth Crawford, a partner at the Philadelphia-based law
firm Kline & Specter PC, is representing the relatives of the two people
who died, as well as Skerritt. She said Skerritt had a healthy and active
lifestyle and chose the Charged Lemonade because of how Panera advertised it.
It was her first time trying the drink.
“You put an innocuous product like lemonade in an innocuous
bakery-cafe like Panera, what reasonable consumer is going to be thinking that
they’re drinking, essentially, three Red Bulls?” she said.
Skerritt has been profoundly changed by the health issues
she developed, Crawford said.
“Everything in her life has been altered because of this
situation,” she said. “It’s devastating. She has to adjust to a new normal.”
Tuesday’s lawsuit calls the Charged Lemonade a dangerous
drink that is defective in its design. It includes medical notes from
Skerritt’s visit to the emergency room in April, in which a nurse wrote that
she had consumed “more caffeine than normal” the day before.
Panera faces second lawsuit over charged lemonade
DEC. 6, 202302:18
The other lawsuits Crawford filed were on behalf of the
family of Sarah Katz, 21, a University of Pennsylvania student with a heart
condition called long QT syndrome type 1, who avoided energy drinks at the
recommendation of her doctors; and Dennis Brown, 46, of Fleming Island,
Florida, who did not consume energy drinks because he had high blood pressure.
Panera moved to dismiss the lawsuit that was filed on behalf
of the Katz family, but a judge denied the request last month.
After that lawsuit, which was reported first by NBC News,
Panera put more detailed disclosures in all of its restaurants and on its
website warning customers to consume the Charged Lemonade in moderation,
stating that it is not recommended for children, people sensitive to caffeine
or pregnant or nursing women.
At the time of Katz’s and Brown’s deaths, and when Skerritt
consumed the beverage, the Charged Lemonade had been available in Panera cafes’
self-serve section alongside other beverages that had no caffeine or less
caffeine, Crawford said.
Since the suits were filed, Panera has moved the Charged
Lemonade to behind the counter, Crawford said. But she feels the drink should
be taken off the menu entirely.
“The fact that they still have it on the shelf — I find that
to be reckless,” she said. “How many more lawsuits do I need to file, both
injury and people that have died, before they do the right thing
ChatGPT
A Rhode Island woman, Lauren Skerritt, has filed a lawsuit
against Panera Bread, alleging that the highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade
caused her "permanent cardiac injuries." Skerritt, a 28-year-old
occupational therapist and former athlete, claims to have experienced heart
problems and now requires daily medication, impacting her ability to work,
exercise, and socialize. The lawsuit states that after consuming 2½ Charged
Lemonade drinks from a Panera cafe, Skerritt had palpitations and later went to
the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. This is
the third lawsuit against Panera over its Charged Lemonade, with previous cases
blaming the beverage for the deaths of individuals with underlying health
conditions. The lawsuit argues that the drink is defective in its design and
highlights the high caffeine content compared to Panera's dark roast coffee.
Panera has not yet commented on the latest lawsuit.