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Panera Settles First Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over its Charged Lemonade

Oct. 8, 2024

Deal comes days before a trial was scheduled to begin in the death of a 21-year-old Penn student who drank the highly caffeinated beverage.

Dave Fusaro

Days before the trial would have begun, Panera Bread has settled with the family of a college student with a heart condition who died after drinking the chain’s highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade drink, various media are reporting.

The 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania student apparently knew she had a heart condition and avoided energy drinks on her doctor’s recommendation, according to NBC news, quoting the lawsuit filed last year in Philadelphia.

But the Charged Lemonade was “offered side-by-side with all of Panera’s non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drinks” and was advertised as a “plant-based and clean” beverage that contained as much caffeine as the restaurant’s dark roast coffee, according to the NBC report. The complaint said Charged Lemonade also had guarana extract, another stimulant, as well as the equivalent of nearly 30 teaspoons of sugar in the large size.

The lawsuit said the student bought a Charged Lemonade from a Panera restaurant in September 2022. Her roommate and close friend told NBC News that she went into cardiac arrest hours later.

Panera announced this May it was discontinuing the beverage nationwide. According to the lawyer for a total of four plaintiffs, this suit has been resolved although the details were not publicized.

The complaint, filed on behalf of the victim’s parents, was the first of four lawsuits that Panera faced over the beverage, according to NBC. A second lawsuit blamed it for a Florida man’s death while the other two alleged that the Charged Lemonade caused permanent heart injuries in previously healthy people.

The case was scheduled for trial this month, with jury selection slated for this week.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.