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Panera Bread has settled a lawsuit with the family of a woman with a heart condition who died after drinking a Charged Lemonade.
University of Pennsylvania student Sarah Katz went into cardiac arrest at the age of 21 in September 2022, hours after drinking the highly caffeinated beverage, the lawsuit states, according to NBC News.
Katz had a heart condition known as long QT syndrome type 1 and didn’t drink energy drinks following guidance from her doctors, the suit filed last year in Philadelphia said.
The lawsuit said Katz bought the drink in September 2022 – her roommate told NBC News that she went into cardiac arrest just hours later.
The complaint was filed on behalf of the student’s parents and is one of four lawsuits related to the Charged Lemonade. Another lawsuit stated that the drink was to blame for a man’s death in Florida and two other legal filings claimed that it caused permanent heart injuries.
In May, the company said it was discontinuing the drink. The lawsuits referred to the beverage as a “dangerous energy drink,” but Panera said the move to remove the drink was part of a “menu transformation.”
Attorney Elizabeth Crawford represents the plaintiffs in the four lawsuits. She told NBC News on Monday that the issue had been “resolved.”
A dollar figure for the settlement was not released.
Panera said following the death of Katz that it was “very saddened to learn about the tragic passing” and said that it would “thoroughly investigate this matter.”
The wrongful death lawsuit claimed that the lemonade was “offered side-by-side with all of Panera’s non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drinks.”
The suit also stated that the drink was advertised as “plant-based and clean” and that it had about as much caffeine as Panera’s dark roast coffee. The lawsuit added that the Charged Lemonade contained guarana extract and the equivalent of almost 30 teaspoons of sugar when served in size large.
After Katz’s death, Panera removed the self-serve option and moved the Charged Lemonade behind the counter, updated the nutrition information to reveal how much caffeine was in the beverage when consumed with ice and added signs stating that the drink had caffeine. Additional signage stated that it should be drunk in moderation and that it was not for children, individuals sensitive to caffeine or women who were pregnant or nursing.
The lawsuit’s settlement came as the case was set to head to trial this month and jury selection was due to take place this week, according to NBC News.
The Independent has contacted Panera for comment.
