Panera Bread’s highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade is now blamed for a second death, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.

Dennis Brown, of Fleming Island, Florida, drank three Charged Lemonades from a local Panera on Oct. 9 and then suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on his way home, the suit says.

Brown, 46, had an unspecified chromosomal deficiency disorder, a developmental delay and a mild intellectual disability. He lived independently, frequently stopping at Panera after his shifts at a supermarket, the legal complaint says. Because he had high blood pressure, he did not consume energy drinks, it adds.

  • gregorum@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    Ahh but knowingly is the key word here. See, the company put the drink right next to their regular non caffeinated drinks such a regular lemonade, had no warning labels, and offered free refills on the drinks.

    but it had a label, didn’t it? one listing its contents? how is Panera Bread responsible for a person’s lack of self-control?

    So how could they reasonably have known?

    He already knew he had high blood pressure and to avoid highly-caffeinated foods/beverages. he purchased and consumed something three times without reading the label which would have informed him of the amount of caffeine it contained. How is it Panera Bread’s fault that he neglected to do that and consumed the beverage anyway?

    • 520@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      but it had a label, didn’t it? one listing its contents? how is Panera Bread responsible for a person’s lack of self-control?

      And how many labels do you check for contents that a given food just plain does not contain? Because lemonades typically don’t have any caffeine in them.

      Would you check the labels of a coffee in case it has alcohol? Would you check the labels of a fruit salad incase it has meat? Would you check the label of a lemonade for dangerous levels of caffeine?

      You obviously wouldn’t, and as a result this could have easily fucked you up. Two cups of this, and you’d be having heart palpitations.

      He already knew he had high blood pressure and to avoid highly-caffeinated foods/beverages. he purchased and consumed something three times without reading the label which would have informed him of the amount of caffeine it contained.

      Because it is unreasonable to expect a lemonade to contain any caffeine, especially when the company failed to give notice of the fact.

      What are you expecting him to do, read every label of literally every thing they consume, incase their packet of rice somehow contains caffeine?

      How is it Panera Bread’s fault that he neglected to do that and consumed the beverage anyway?

      Because they called it a lemonade, not a fucking energy drink, and gave no advanced notices that the item even has caffeine, let alone a borderline dangerous amount. And no, a tiny ass listing on the back of the retail cups is not enough.

      Oh, and they offered and advertised free refills on a drink that they knew is crazy dangerous to consume more than a single cup of, even for healthy people.

      • gregorum@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        How is any of that the fault of Panera bread? And why can’t you answer that simple question?

        The amount in the lemonade was approved by the FDA, and it is every person‘s responsibility to check what they consume before they do so. The person had a pre-existing health condition, and that is not Panera bread‘s fault, either. 

        You can’t just go around blaming everyone else for your own mistakes.

        • 520@kbin.social
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          11 months ago

          How is any of that the fault of Panera bread? And why can’t you answer that simple question?

          I did answer the question. Let me repeat incase you have trouble reading.

          They called it lemonade, put it in a lineup among non caffeinated drinks (right next to their regular lemonade), put zero warning labels on and offered free refills on a drink that rode so close to the line of safe daily intakes that having two would cause serious problems even in healthy people.

          They basically did everything they possibly could to hide this information. A single line in an ingredients is not sufficient warning because no reasonable consumer would check the ingredients of a lemonade for dangerous levels of caffeine.

          The amount in the lemonade was approved by the FDA

          Nope! FDA doesn’t actually regulate restaurants, and Charged Lemonade isn’t something that can be bought in store, only at Panera restaurants. FDA officially has no jurisdiction here:

          https://www.fda.gov/food/food-industry/how-start-food-business

          Examples of Food businesses NOT regulated by FDA:

          Retail food establishments (i.e. grocery stores, restaurants, cafeterias, and food trucks), which are regulated by state and local governments.

          Farmers markets

          • gregorum@lemm.ee
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            11 months ago

            What you’ve done is mix fact with opinion to massively misrepresent the situation. You’re welcome to try that in a civil lawsuit, but if I’m on the jury, I would vote to dismiss the case. 

            • 520@kbin.social
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              11 months ago

              What did I mix, exactly? The only bit that is opinion was me stating they did everything they could to hide the information.

              • gregorum@lemm.ee
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                11 months ago

                I’ve stated my case, and I find your counter argument insufficient. If you’re looking for some endless debate, you’re not gonna get one. The guy knew his health situation, drank a drink he knew better than to drink labeled charged lemonade. Panera bread is not responsible for a risk that the man took knowingly.

                Sorry if that’s not good enough for you, but it’s going to have to be. Have a good night. 

                • thisisnotgoingwell@programming.dev
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                  11 months ago

                  Just throwing in my 2¢ here, your argument is devoid of any logic. You’re assuming he knew that those drinks had caffeine, even though the source specifically states the victim intentionally avoided caffeine due to his pre-existing condition. “Charged” isn’t a term that is typically used for drinks to indicate they have caffeine. Might as well call it zesty or smoky as neither of those terms imply any potential harm. It was negligent of Panera, most lawyers who have publicly commented or reviewed the claims agree that Panera will be found culpable or settle out of court. Being intentionally dense and abrasive isn’t an argument.

                • 520@kbin.social
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                  11 months ago

                  I’ve stated my case, and I find your counter argument insufficient.

                  If you don’t actually have a fact based response, just say so.