Panera Lemonade at the Root of Another Tragedy

Panera Lemonade at the Root of Another Tragedy

Written by: Emily Nestor 

01/17/24

Just over a year after the death of UPenn student Sarah Katz, Panera’s lemonade has allegedly claimed another victim. 46 year old Dennis Brown. 

On October 9th, while walking home from his local Panera, the Florida native went into cardiac arrest, passing away shortly after. Brown, who had an unspecified chromosomal deficiency disorder, developmental delay, a mild intellectual disability and chronically high blood pressure, avoided the consumption of any and all energy drinks. 

In the hours preceding his death, Brown drank three charged lemonades, the equivalent of 1170 mg of caffeine, a number that is a concerningly high amount of caffeine for even the most healthy people.

Liverpool sophomore, Anna Stala, who has always enjoyed the lemonade, says,  “The lemonade’s good, but I think this has definitely changed my perspective on if I should get it anymore. Because, I don’t want to die, you know?” 

Elizabeth Crawford, a partner at the Philadelphia-based law firm Kline & Specter, PC, is now representing both Brown and Katz’s families in their pursuit of legal action against Panera. In a phone interview with NBC, Crawford, in reference to people with conditions similar to Brown, states that, “This is a vulnerable population that I think the community at large should help protect. And I feel like Panera failed to do that.”

Panera, however, feels vastly differently, saying that although they feel deep sympathy for Brown and his family, also say, “Based on our investigation, we believe his unfortunate passing was not caused by one of the company's products.” 

Both Brown and Katz’s families will continue to push for an increase in safety precautions regarding Panera’s charged lemonade in order to ensure that another tragedy such as this will not occur.