The household of the skilled dancer who died after consuming a mislabeled Stew Leonard’s cookie is suing the favored grocery chain, the cookie producer and staff for wrongful dying.
Órla Baxendale, 25, was rehearsing at a dance studio in Connecticut on Jan. 11 when she went into anaphylactic shock from a extreme allergic response to a Vanilla Florentine cookie offered by the chain that contained peanuts.
The grocery store failed to notice the allergen threat on the bundle’s label, her household says.
The tragic incident was the results of “gross negligence and reckless indifference to the rights of others and an intentional wanton violation of these rights” by professionals who didn’t replace the ingredient label to notice that the cookie now comprises peanuts, Baxendale’s mom alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
Baxendale’s household is in search of damages within the extra of $15,000 along with financial and punitive damages decided by the courtroom, in line with the submitting seen by The Publish.
The lawsuit accuses the chain, the Connecticut department the place the precise field of cookies was bought and several other staff of negligence on the grounds that they ignored a July 20, 2023, missive from the producer Cookies United LLC that acknowledged the Florentine Cookies now include peanuts.
A minimum of 11 Stew Leonard’s staff obtained the e-mail, however the grocery store didn’t replace the ingredient labels to notice the brand new allergen threat, the go well with says.
The inaccurate label resulted in Baxendale – who had a “extreme peanut allergy” – consuming to the cookie and subsequently going into the extreme allergic response that resulted in her dying, the plaintiffs allege.
The truth that Stew Leonard’s truly recalled a number of merchandise for incorrect or incomplete labels within the weeks after Baxendale’s dying was “additional proof of the damaged, unreliable, inherently harmful…programs in place” on the grocery chain, the go well with claimed.
Stew Leonard Jr., the president and CEO of the grocery chain, admitted to his and the corporate’s culpability in Baxendale’s dying in a Jan. 24 video assertion on the incident, the submitting added.
Cookies United also needs to be held liable as a result of it finally manufactured, packaged and offered the product to Stew Leonard’s, the go well with says.
A number of official regulators publicly admonished each the grocery retailer and producer of their assessments of Baxendale’s dying, the 45-page submitting famous.
“Appropriate labeling in order that individuals who have meals allergy symptoms can appropriately defend themselves is of utmost significance,” Connecticut Division of Public Well being Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani stated of the incident.
“I can’t stress sufficient the significance of meals allergy consciousness in order that an avoidable tragedy like this doesn’t occur once more,” Juthani stated.
By failing to make sure that the Vanilla Florentine cookies had been precisely labeled, Stew Leonard’s and Cookies United LLC violated state and federal rules, the lawsuit stated.
A rep for Stew Leonard’s declined to talk to The Publish in regards to the go well with. Cookies United didn’t instantly reply to The Publish’s request for a remark.
Órla Baxendale was initially from Manchester, England, and moved to New York Metropolis in 2018 to review on a scholarship on the Ailey Faculty.
She had carried out at New York Style Week and was concerned in productions at Lincoln Heart.
Supply hyperlink
