PHILADELPHIA – A federal judge has decreed that a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of a University of Pennsylvania student, who died in 2022 allegedly after drinking a highly caffeinated lemonade beverage sold by the restaurant chain and one allegedly to which no warning of its high caffeine content was provided, will proceed to trial as scheduled on Oct. 7.
Jill Katz and Michael Katz (as Administrators of the Estate of Sarah Katz, deceased) of Jersey City, N.J. first filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 23, 2023 versus Panera Bread Company of Philadelphia and Panera, LLC of St. Louis.
Sarah Katz, 21, died on Sept. 10, 2022 at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center of cardiac arrest, shortly after purchasing and consuming a Panera Charged Lemonade beverage at a branch location of the restaurant in West Philadelphia, according to the lawsuit.
“Decedent had been diagnosed with Long QT Type 1 Syndrome (LQT1) at age five. In LQT1, the potassium ion channels in the heart do not work properly, disrupting the heart’s electrical activity, resulting in potentially life-threatening abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias). Very intense physical exercise, particularly swimming, can trigger arrhythmias in people with LQT1. LQT1 is the most common and is manageable and responsive to medication in most cases,” the suit stated.
“Because energy drinks have been shown to adversely affect the heart’s rhythm in patients with Long QT Syndrome, they should be avoided in Long QT patients. In addition to taking daily medication and following all medical advice, decedent effectively managed her condition by abstaining from energy drinks and highly-caffeinated beverages.”
The suit continued that “the display of Panera Charged Lemonade at the retail store at 200 South 40th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104…was offered side-by-side with all of Panera’s non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drinks and it was not advertised as an ‘energy drink’…and further, “included no warning of any potentially-dangerous effects, even the life-threatening effects on blood pressure, heart rate, and/or brain function” and “reflected no warning of any risks of ingesting these concentrated amounts of caffeine in connection with the stimulants and sugar.”
“These unregulated beverages contain no advertisement as an ‘energy’ drink and, instead, represent them as ‘clean’ and akin to Panera Dark Roast coffee, when they contain not only caffeine, but also the stimulant guarana and exorbitant amounts of sugar. Panera Charged Lemonade is advertised as ‘Plant-based and clean with as much caffeine as our Dark Roast coffee,” the suit said.
“Accordingly, decedent consumed the Panera Charged Lemonade, reasonably confident it was a traditional lemonade and/or electrolyte sports drink containing a reasonable amount of caffeine safe for her to drink. On Sept. 10, 2022, following consumption of the Panera Charged Lemonade, decedent, while with her friends at a restaurant in her apartment building, suffered a cardiac arrest. After being transported to Pennsylvania Presbyterian Hospital, she had another arrest and was pronounced dead.”
The suit went on to say that the caffeine content of the Panera Charged Lemonade beverage far exceeds its comparators on the market, and results in it being “a dangerous energy drink.”
“The caffeine content of the Panera Charged Lemonade ranges from 260 milligrams in 20 fluid ounces (regular size) to 390 milligrams in 30 fluid ounces (large size, Sip Club size). At 30 fluid ounces, Panera Charged Lemonade exceeds the combined contents of 12 fluid ounces of Red Bull (114 milligrams caffeine) and 16 fluid ounces of Monster Energy Drink (160 milligrams caffeine),” per the suit.
“Defendants knew or should have known that the Panera Charged Lemonade, as designed and formulated, once consumed, could injure children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people sensitive to caffeine – including those with underlying heart problems – by causing catastrophic injuries and/or death. Due to the defective and unreasonably dangerous design of Panera Charged Lemonade, customers were and continue to be at an increased risk of injury while consuming the dangerous beverage, and due to the unreasonably dangerous and defective design of Panera Charged Lemonade, decedent suffered cardiac arrhythmias and ultimately cardiac arrest, which resulted in her death.”
Panera Bread Company issued a statement in response to the litigation.
“We were very saddened to learn this morning about the tragic passing of Sarah Katz, and our hearts go out to her family. At Panera, we strongly believe in transparency around our ingredients. We will work quickly to thoroughly investigate this matter,” a spokesperson for the company said.
On Oct. 26, 2023, the defendants removed the action to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, pointing to diversity of citizenship between the parties and the amount of contested damages in question.
According to a subsequent Nov. 8, 2023 report of a Rule 26(f) meeting, the Panera defendants have wholly denied liability for the death of Sarah Katz.
“Defendants dispute and deny all allegations of wrongdoing or liability. Defendants deny and dispute any defective design, manufacturing or warnings, any strict liability, negligence, misrepresentation, breach of warranty, wrongful death or survival claims. Defendants further dispute that plaintiffs can establish general and/or specific causation with the requisite degree of certainty from competent and reliable expert witnesses pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and relevant case law interpreting same. Defendants will further show that Ms. Katz’s death was in no way caused or contributed to by the Panera Charged Lemonade products, but rather was the result of her pre-existing long-standing cardiac condition Long QT Type 1 Syndrome, alone or in combination with other alternative causes,” the report stated, in part.
“Defendants dispute that Ms. Katz ever purchased, consumed or was injured in any way by a Panera Charged Sips caffeinated beverage, as alleged in plaintiffs’ complaint. The complaint does not identify any direct physical or documentary evidence of purchase or consumption, nor was the beverage or container she allegedly purchased retained for examination. While defendants understand that witnesses may report seeing Ms. Katz with a Panera cup and/or going to a Panera café with Ms. Katz, defendants anticipate that a threshold factual issue exists that plaintiffs will not be able to meet their burden to prove: Whether Ms. Katz ever consumed any caffeinated beverage from Panera at all, and whether defendants caused or contributed to the death of Ms. Katz in any way or can be held liable to plaintiffs in this lawsuit.”
UPDATE
In a subsequent motion to reconsider U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Timothy J. Savage’s Sept. 4 decision to not move the trial date for a second time, Panera argued the Court should accommodate their attorneys’ scheduling conflict with an intellectual property case trial in a California state court.
According to the company, their counsel has specialized experience in handling claims like those of the plaintiffs, and the defendants would be prejudiced if said counsel were not available represent them, due to meeting their other, previously-scheduled obligations elsewhere.
The plaintiffs opposed the motion, arguing they have already arranged for their witnesses to testify as scheduled and claiming that they will incur costs for rescheduling their experts.
In a Sept. 19 memorandum opinion, Savage found no such prejudice to the defendants would occur if the Katz trial went ahead as scheduled in early October.
Savage commented that with Shook Hardy & Bacon’s “experience in product liability law, including in Pennsylvania, we are satisfied [it] has attorneys who are qualified, knowledgeable and experienced enough to try this case.”
“The issue defense counsel raises was not unanticipated. They were warned months ago that the case would go to trial as scheduled in September. In a telephone conference on July 31, 2024, we informed defense counsel Miles that trial was going forward. He was instructed to have attorneys prepared to try this case as scheduled if he was on trial in another case. In response to plaintiffs’ counsel’s concern for her upcoming Oct. 28 and Nov. 12 trial dates, Panera speculates that one of these trials is ‘not long-standing’ and has been rescheduled several times, and the other is ‘not likely to go forward.’ Defense counsel’s whimsical treatment of scheduled trial dates as tentative and subject to change is why the parties are now in a difficult – but not insoluble – position. Nonetheless, we did not deny Panera’s request for a second trial continuance in an effort to accommodate plaintiffs’ counsel’s October and November trials,” Savage said.
“The parties appear to believe that the trial date was rescheduled to suit their schedules. Although we considered their schedules, the trial date in this case was set taking into consideration the Court’s trial schedule. There are trials scheduled to start on Oct. 24 and 31, Nov. 7 and 14, and Dec. 5, 12 and 19. If this case were rescheduled, trials that were scheduled months before defense counsel claimed unavailability will have to be rescheduled, causing inconvenience and delays to the litigants, witnesses and attorneys in those cases. Bumping those cases will have a ripple effect on other cases on this Court’s docket and on the dockets of other state and federal courts. Thus, moving this trial will add to congestion on the court’s docket and unfairly impede and delay other trials.”
Savage concluded, “In short, Panera has not identified sufficient prejudice to warrant a second continuance of the trial date.”
For counts of strict products liability, negligence, misrepresentation, breach of implied warranty, survival and wrongful death, the plaintiffs are seeking damages, jointly and severally, including claims for compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest, costs of suit, and such other relief as this Honorable Court may deem appropriate and just.
The plaintiffs are represented by Elizabeth A. Crawford, Michelle A. Paznokas and Wyatt Larkin of Kline & Specter, in Philadelphia.
The defendants are represented by Joseph H. Blum, Gabriel S. Spooner, Kristy A. Schlesinger and Marc P. Miles of Shook Hardy & Bacon, in Philadelphia and Irvine, Calif.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:23-cv-04135
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 231002242
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com