Sarah Katz, from Jersey City, N.J., was a college junior and research assistant at a children’s hospital.
Heavily involved in her community, the 21-year-old also taught CPR in underserved communities.
Following the student’s tragic death in September 2022, her parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Now, an update on the lawsuit has emerged.
According to the lawsuit, the student died after drinking a heavily caffeinated energy drink at a Panera Bread in Philadelphia, as she may have believed it was regular lemonade, reports CNN.
An autopsy report obtained by the new outlets established that Katz’s death was caused by cardiac arrhythmia due to long QT syndrome (LQTS), a condition affecting the heart’s rhythm.
Johns Hopkins Medicine says LQTS is ‘an abnormal feature of the heart’s electrical system,’ and symptoms may include palpitations, seizure-like activity, dizziness or fainting, and a sudden cardiac arrest.
In the lawsuit, Katz was said to have been diagnosed with LQTS at the age of five, reports NBC News.
She managed her condition through medication, regular doctor appointments, and careful avoidance of excessive caffeine.
Katz’s parents believe the 21-year-old thought the lemonade drink was a normal soda, rather than a highly caffeinated energy drink.
The student’s close friend and roommate, Victoria Rose Conroy, told NBC: “She was very, very vigilant about what she needed to do to keep herself safe.
“I guarantee if Sarah had known how much caffeine this was, she never would have touched it with a 10-foot pole.”
According to the lawsuit, Katz went into cardiac arrest hours after buying a Charged Lemonade from Panera Bread, which her family’s attorney says she ordered in a large cup.
NBC reports that photos of both the menu and beverage dispensers in the store, as documented in the lawsuit, show that Charged Lemonade was ‘offered side-by-side with all of Panera’s non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drink’ and advertised as ‘plant-based and clean.’
The legal complaint says the drink was described to contain as much caffeine as a dark roast coffee.
The legal action alleges a large cup contains more caffeine than cans of Red Bulls and Monster energy drinks combined.
According to court papers, it also contains guarana extract, another stimulant, and the equivalent of nearly 30 teaspoons of sugar in a large size.
Elsewhere in the lawsuit, Charged Lemonade is described as being ‘defective in design’ and a ‘dangerous energy drink,’ citing ‘no warning of any potentially dangerous effects.’
Court papers say around a week and a half before Katz died, she purchased an Unlimited Sip Club membership from Panera, which allows customers to order unlimited drinks through a monthly fee.
The student’s friend, Conroy, claims she purchased at least one other Charged Lemonade in the days before her passing.
After the lawsuit was filed regarding Katz’s passing, NBC News reported that Panera Bread began displaying ‘enhanced’ disclosures relating to the chain’s highly caffeinated drink.
A spokesperson for the restaurant chain stated: “We were saddened to learn this week about the tragic passing of Sarah Katz. While our investigation is ongoing, out of an abundance of caution, we have enhanced our existing caffeine disclosure for these beverages at our bakery cafes, on our website, and on the Panera app.”
The ‘enhanced’ disclosures specified that Charged Lemonade contains caffeine, should be consumed in moderation, and isn’t suitable for children, pregnant or nursing women, and people sensitive to caffeine.
But just two months later, the chain’s Charged Lemonade was at the forefront of another lawsuit following the death of 46-year-old Dennis Brown, per NBC News.
This lawsuit, filed on behalf of Brown’s mother, sister, and brother, says the Florida resident drank three Charged Lemonades on October 9, 2023, and that he suffered a cardiac arrest on his way home.
By January 2024, a third lawsuit alleged a woman with no underlying health conditions now experiences instances of irregularly fast heart palpitations after consuming the highly caffeinated drink, per CNN.
A fourth lawsuit was filed in May 2024, with a Pennsylvania teenager claiming he was resuscitated after drinking the chain’s Charged Lemonade, per NBC News.
In the same month, The New York Times reported that Panera Bread would stop selling the fruit-flavored drinks due to a ‘menu transformation.’
Before its removal, an unnamed employee told the New York Post the drink had been moved behind the counter and out of customers’ reach in ‘some stores.’
They alleged: “After the first lawsuit, they put a sticker on the bubblers that hold the [lemonade] that warns it has caffeine and it could be dangerous for certain groups of people. And it was moved behind the counter.”
As Charged Lemonade was steeped in such controversy, many questioned why Panera Bread didn’t pull the drink much sooner.
In response to this question, crisis PR expert James Haggerty speculated: “Very often in lawsuits, there is a knee-jerk reaction among lawyers to do as little as possible publicly out of some vague fear that you are exposing yourself to additional liability.”
In the latest update on Katz’s case, her family’s lawyer has confirmed they’ve won the lawsuit against Panera Bread.
Elizabeth Crawford, a partner at Kline & Specter, the Philadelphia-based law firm representing the plaintiffs in all four cases, confirmed to the BBC that a settlement had been reached but could not disclose specifics.
The Sarah Katz case will go to trial at some point this month.