Panera Bread under fire again as second person suffers fatal cardiac arrest after drinking highly caffeinated beverage

Panera Bread is facing a second wrongful death lawsuit after a Florida man suffered a fatal cardiac arrest when he consumed the chain's highly caffeinated 'Charged Lemonade.' 

A lawsuit filed Monday alleges that Dennis Brown, 46, went into cardiac arrest on October 9 just after he left his local branch of Panera Bread in Fleming Island. He was found unresponsive on the sidewalk and pronounced dead on the scene.

According to the lawsuit, Mr Brown, who lived with developmental disabilities and high blood pressure, had started ordering the drinks consistently three weeks before his death. 

The news comes weeks after the family of 21-year-old Sarah Katz alleged the Pennsylvania college student, who had an underlying heart condition, died after drinking one large Charged Lemonade last year. 

Elizabeth Crawford, the attorney representing Mr Brown's family, told local news station Action News Jax that her client was 'reasonably confident' the drink had no caffeine. 

In reality, a 30-ounce large size contains 390 milligrams, which is nearly the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) entire recommended daily limit.  

Ms Crawford said that Mr Brown had a habit of ordering three drinks in a row, and he drank three charged lemonades with his dinner the day of his death. 

The lawsuit does not specify what size drink Mr Brown ordered. 

He also ordered the drink on September 28, October 2, October 4, October 5, and October 7.

He did not normally order energy drinks. According to the lawsuit, he only drank water, root beer, iced tea, and Charged Lemonade. 

The lemonade was offered alongside other soft drinks and was not advertised as an 'energy drink.' There were no high caffeine warnings to customers. 

'Dennis consumed the Panera Charged Lemonade, reasonably confident it was a traditional lemonade containing a reasonable amount of caffeine safe for him to drink,' the lawsuit states. 

The lawsuit argued that Panera should classify the beverage as an energy drink and provide warnings about its caffeine content. 'Panera Charged Lemonade is defective in design because it is a dangerous drink,' legal documents state. 

Ms Crawford said: 'I think this lemonade is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I think for two reasons. I think it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing because it’s sold at Panera Bread, and I think that the reasonable person equates Panera Bread to the healthier alternative.'

'Then, it’s also sold as a lemonade. And, I think that people think, generally, lemonade is innocuous.'

A regular size, which is 20 ounces, has 260 milligrams of caffeine. The large, which comes in a 30-ounce cup, has 390 milligrams.

In comparison, the average eight-ounce cup of coffee has 80 to 95 milligrams of caffeine.

The FDA's recommended daily caffeine limit is 400 milligrams.  

Mr Brown lived with chromosomal deficiency disorder, developmental delay, high blood pressure, and ADHD.  

Chromosomal deficiency disorder is when a person has missing, extra, or irregular parts of their DNA. It's associated with conditions like Down syndrome, CHARGE syndrome, Rett Syndrome, and Fragile X syndrome. 

Legal documents did not specify which of these conditions Mr Brown had.  

Developmental disabilities are not associated with increased sensitivity or tolerance to caffeine.  

In October, University of Pennsylvania college student Sarah Katz's family alleged the 21-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest hours after consuming one large Panera Charged Lemonade.

Ms Katz had been diagnosed with the heart rhythm condition long QT syndrome as a child, which caused her heart to beat irregularly (arrhythmia). 

Dr Stuart Fischer, an internal medicine physician in New York, previously told DailyMail.com that caffeine can eliminate the vital pauses in between heartbeats for people with long QT syndrome.

'Patients with this condition need a little bit longer than usual to reboot after the heart muscle has contracted.'

Caffeine, he explains, speeds up the beating pattern, placing too much stress on the already stretched organ.

'If there is too much activity when the muscle needs to relax, it can be potentially fatal or at least a major medical emergency.'

Ms Katz had managed her condition by taking medication and limiting caffeine, according to legal documents. She was not aware that the drink had 390 milligrams of caffeine, more than four cups of coffee. 

Panera released a statement on Monday in response to Mr Brown's death, reading: 'Panera expresses our deep sympathy for Mr. Brown’s family.'

'Based on our investigation, we believe his unfortunate passing was not caused by one of the company’s products.'

'We view this lawsuit which was filed by the same law firm as a previous claim to be equally without merit. Panera stands firmly by the safety of our products.'