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.
I have tachycardia and I’m supposed to avoid caffeine. But I could easily not read the fine print and drink this. Who expects caffeine in their lemonade?
They very clearly advertise this lemonade as being caffeinated in all the signage I’ve seen in their stores. They even tell you how much is in each size, which is quite substantial. The biggest size is right at the cusp of the daily recommended maximum for caffeine (similar to a large can of Monster or Rockstar) at a whopping 390mg (and for reference, the daily max is 400mg).
I am not sure if this is true, as I haven’t been to panera in years. But I’ve heard the signage only appeared after the first death lawsuit.
I have a Panera in the hospital I work at, so I’m a frequent customer. Before the first death, all the caffeinated juices had a sign above them saying “charged” and were next to the regular juice. But after the death, they moved all caffeinated juice behind the counter so an employee has to fill it for you. And when you order it on the app or kiosk, there is a huge warning banner telling you about the caffeine content. It’s pretty obvious what you’re getting yourself into imo. I’m a little caffeine sensitive myself, so I request that my lemonade only be filled halfway then I fill the rest with water.
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People who read things as advertised?
I recently went to try the charged lemonade (was really gross btw), they do a pretty good job of advertising what’s in it. You’d honestly have to go out of your way to avoid the signage telling you about the caffeine.
That and if a drink is charged it usually implies caffeine, alcohol, or vitamin stuff. Either way it is something a person should probably be curious enough to investigate before consuming. Idk why someone would just order and drink something that they don’t know anything about… That just seems weird and irresponsible
I’m usually all for knocking corps down a peg, but this charged lemonade stuff with panera feels more like a failure of personal responsibility of the individual.
Something tells me the fact that he was developmentally delayed and had a mental disorder with what sounds like diabetes, makes me unsurprised fam.
It’s worth noting they’ve since changed how they do things after the first lawsuit from what I read. It wasn’t always the way you saw. It wasn’t labeled as having caffeine and was next to other non-caffinated drinks.
Not only that but before the 1st lawsuit their large size had nearly 390g caffeine, which is right at the limit of what’s safe for a healthy adult. I don’t think a reasonable person would have expected quite that much caffeine. Though they have reduced it since that 1st lawsuit
And these two comments are why cases try to settle vs going to trial.
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“Charged” is not standard language. Have you ever heard of charged cider? Charged seltzer? It’s not a thing. To be sure, I googled “charged cider,” and found one result. It is not caffeinated cider.
Many caffeinated products use “charged” language. Coca cola makes a caffeinated product in the Maldives called, simply, “Charged.” Dunkin Donuts Let’s you “charge” any drink (add a shot of espresso), you can buy “charged” brownies on Amazon, and so on.
This is a fucking insane comment on a post about someone with a disability. Fuck you.
So you’d see ‘charged lemonade’ and not all any questions…