WATERBURY, Conn. — Stew Leonard’s is facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the estate of a woman with a peanut allergy died after eating a mislabeled cookie and had a severe reaction.
Orla Ruth Baxendale25, died Jan. 11 after she ate a Florentine cookie sold by Stew Leonard’s and went into anaphylactic shock, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Cookies recalled after woman’s death
Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection
The Christmas cookies were sold under the Stew Leonard’s brand at stores in Danbury and Newington in late 2023 before the supermarket issued a recall.
The cookies were produced by Cookies United, a Long Island wholesaler, which was also named in the lawsuit along with several Stew Leonard employees.
The lawsuit stated that the failure to properly label the cookie package was “grossly negligent, willful, reckless, indifferent to human life, and a willful violation as the manufacturer and seller were required by law to correctly label the ingredients.” ”
A spokesperson for Stew Leonard’s, which has eight stores in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, said they could not comment on pending litigation. Cookies United’s general counsel did not respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit.
Stew Leonard’s blames the manufacturer
President and CEO Stew Leonard Jr. said in a video statement after Baxendale’s death: “It was a Christmas cookie, it was a one-time deal. But we bought it from an outside supplier, and unfortunately the supplier changed the recipe and started going from soy nuts to peanuts, and our chief safety officer here at Stew Leonard’s was never notified.”
Leonard said his stores sold about 500 packages of cookies before the recall.
An attorney representing Cookies United told CBS New York they had sent multiple emails to Stew Leonard’s alerting employees about the change in ingredients. Another rack said Stew Leonard repackaged the cookies and made the labels.
“Her death was completely and 100% preventable”
Baxendale moved to New York City from Great Britain in 2018 to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer. She was in Connecticut performing when she ate the cookie.
“Her death was completely, 100% preventable and avoidable. That’s why the packaging is so important,” Marijo Adimey, the family’s attorney, told CBS New York two weeks after Baxendale’s death.
Adimey said Baxendale’s friends told her she checked the ingredients list before eating the cookie.
“Just to make sure there was nothing in terms of peanuts on the label. That wasn’t the case. So, thinking it was safe, she took a bite or two of the cookie and within a minute went into anaphylactic shock. to hit,” Adimey said.
Baxendale “carried EpiPens everywhere,” her family’s lawyer said. But Dr. CBS New York medical contributor Nidhi Kumar said it may not have been enough to prevent anaphylactic shock.
“People with very severe allergies may need multiple doses,” Kumar said. “In anaphylaxis, our blood vessels dilate, so what an EpiPen does is counteract that by making your blood vessels constrict.”
The lawsuit seeks an undisclosed amount of money and damages.
