Lawsuits fly everywhere and some cases are worth the suit, while others (erm!!) look like a waste of time. We cannot judge if a case is worth it or not unless we take a look at the case to understand the precedent. So while I was reading through headlines, I saw a headline where a family that lost their 21 year old sued Panera bread for selling poison as lemonade energy drink.
The lawsuit states that the Sarah died of cardiac arrest after drinking a 30-ounce cup of the charged lemonade which is said to contain lots of caffeine that exceeds a combination of Red Bull and Monster Energy drink Combined (That is a lot if we are going to be sincere), and it is garnished with over 30 teaspoon of sugar.
When you drink red bull or any other energy drink, caffeine causes your heart rate to increase and this causes one to be very active (I will like to not go in too deep with science terms) at this point, the heart beats heavily, breathing changes, and even the digestive system would experience some changes. Sleep receptors will be blocked and energy released. So If this drink contains more caffeine than Red Bull and Monster energy drink combined, then it is scary.
That said, the company has come out to say that they didn't advertise the drink as energy drinks in their stores but adverts popping up on twitter says that the company advertises the presence of caffeine from guarana, in the drink as well as other ingredients like green coffee extract.
When taking the drink, it doesn't taste particularly sweet, and does not have the energy drink taste, so it is no surprise why people on tictok are saying they didn't know it had these ingredients until they looked up it ingredients. The lemon taste is often tasted compared to the caffeine or sugar taste in the drink.
This company has a membership subscription, one which Sarah was part of. She was a member of the unlimited Sip Club which is a membership subscription for panera bread. This membership will allow her to get free drink refills. The victim actually had health issues as she suffered from Long QT Type 1 syndrome (LQT1) which caused her heart to beat irregularly when exercising or performing stressful tasks.
According to the cause of death, it was said that she died as a result of cardiac arrhythmia as a result of LQT1 syndrome, and although she had just had a cup of Panera, the medical practitioners say that there was no drug in her system.
So we can say that the lawsuit was wrong but while it was, the company has reduced the amount of caffeine in their drinks but then the charges are against false advertising and pretense to make profit which could lead to harm because it was marketed as an electrolyte drink and not an energy drink since it was referred to a charged lemonade.
Read More
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/business