Family of 25-year-old sues Stew Leonard’s after fatal allergic reaction

CONNECTICUT (WTNH) – The family of a dancer with a severe peanut allergy who died earlier this year after eating cookies bought at Stew Leonard’s has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the grocery company.

The lawsuit accuses Stew Leonard’s of not declaring peanuts on the product label of Vanilla Florentine Cookies- cookies which 25-year-old New York resident Órla Baxendale consumed during a social gathering in Connecticut in January.

The complaint alleges Stew Leonard’s “exhibited gross negligence and reckless indifference by failing to properly label the package of cookies, causing Ms. Baxendale’s death.”

News 8 has reached out to Stew Leonard’s representatives for comment.

In January, CEO Stew Leonard Jr. said in a video that the company’s chief safety officer was never notified that the cookies contained peanuts.

The Vanilla Florentine Cookies were produced by a wholesaler, Cookies United, in Islip, New York, labeled with the Stew Leonard’s brand name, and sold only at the Danbury and Newington stores.

In January, Cookies United provided a statement that said Stew Leonard’s was notified by Cookies United in July of 2023 that the cookies contained peanuts and all products shipped to them had been labeled accordingly.

The CT Department of Consumer Protection Food and local health officials said in January they were looking into what led to the mislabeling of the cookies along with if any other products were affected.

The complaint was filed against StLeonard’sd’s Danbury, LLC, StLeonard’sd’s Holdings, LLC, Stew Leonard Jr., and supermarket employees David Pollard, Peter Tournas, Bret Cherry, Mario Ortiz, Chris Nemer, Annemarie Clarke aka Annemarie Clarke Gochee, Sergio Rocha, and Cookies United LLC in the Superior Court, J.D. of Waterbury.

It was filed on May 23 by the personal injury law firm of Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf.

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