Panera Bread hit with lawsuit alleging a college student went into cardiac arrest and died after drinking its 'Charged Lemonade'

• A college student went into cardiac arrest and died after drinking a 'Charged Lemonade,' a lawsuit alleges.
• Panera Bread's caffeinated lemonade has 390 milligrams of caffeine in its 30-ounce size.

The parents of an Ivy League student are suing Panera Bread, alleging that their daughter went into cardiac arrest and died several hours after drinking a "Charged Lemonade" from the chain.

Sarah Katz, was a 21-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania when she visited a Panera Bread in Philadelphia in September 2022 and ordered the caffeinated beverage, which her parents describe in a lawsuit against Panera as "a dangerous energy drink." The lawsuit was first reported by NBC News.

According to the lawsuit, Katz had lived with a heart condition called long QT syndrome type 1 since the age of 5 and stayed away from energy drinks.

"She was very, very vigilant about what she needed to do to keep herself safe," her roommate, Victoria Rose Conroy told NBC News.

Conroy said that if Katz has known about the amount of caffeine, "she never would have touched it with a 10-foot pole."

Katz was under the impression that the Charged Lemonade "was a traditional lemonade and/or electrolyte sports drink," as it wasn't labeled as an energy drink, according the lawsuit.

The legal complaint was filed in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Monday morning and it accuses Panera Bread of wrongful death.

According to the suit, the 30-ounce Charged Lemonade has about 390 milligrams of caffeine. One large cup of the beverage has more caffeine than a 12-ounce can of Red Bull and a 16-ounce can of Monster combined. The punched-up lemonade also has the stimulant guarana extract and 124 grams of sugar in the large size, the nutritional facts posted on the Panera website read.

"We were very saddened to learn this morning about the tragic passing of Sarah Katz, and our hearts go out to her family," Panera told CNN in a statement. "At Panera, we strongly believe in transparency around our ingredients. We will work quickly to thoroughly investigate this matter."

The lawsuit contains photos of the drink station and menu of a Panera location. The plaintiffs allege there was "no warning of any risks of ingesting these concentrated amounts of caffeine in connection with the stimulants and sugar." They also accuse the company of encouraging people to drink an "unlimited" amount of the Charged Lemonades with its drink membership.

Katz became a member of Panera's Unlimited Sip Club that allowed her to have unlimited drinks for a monthly fee a little over a week before she died, the lawsuit states.

"Panera Bread's 'charged lemonade' is a hidden danger to the public and the Katz family wants to prevent this tragedy from happening to someone else," Elizabeth Crawford, a partner at law firm Kline & Specter, PC, which represents the Katz family in the case, told Insider.

Panera Bread didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Panera's charged lemonade went viral on TikTok and X in December 2022 as consumers compared the drink to stimulants like Adderall. TikToker Sarah Baus said she would drink up to five regular-size Charged Lemonades while working remotely from a Panera Bread, unknowingly consuming about 1,300 milligrams of caffeine.

Some even predicted a lawsuit would eventually come.

"Somebody at panera gon end up getting sued," an X user wrote in response to Baus' video in December.