Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against Stew Leonard's, Bakery Over Cookie-Related Death

NORWALK, CT — The family of a dancer who died earlier this year after eating a cookie at a gathering in Connecticut has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against family-run grocery chain Stew Leonard's and New York-based cookie manufacturer Cookies United.

The 42-page lawsuit, filed Thursday by New York law firm Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf on behalf of the estate Órla Ruth Baxendale, claims the 25-year-old New York resident was killed after consuming a "deadly cookie" that contained peanuts not declared on the product label.

Baxendale, an accomplished dancer who moved to New York from East Lancashire, U.K., to pursue her career, had a known severe peanut allergy and relied on product labeling to ensure her safety, the lawsuit notes.

In an accompanying news release posted to PR Newswire, the law firm accused Stew Leonard's of "gross negligence and reckless indifference by failing to properly label the package of cookies, causing Ms. Baxendale's death."

A Stew Leonard's spokesperson declined to provide a statement Friday as the company is "unable to comment on pending litigation."

On Jan. 23, the "world's largest dairy store" and the Food and Drug Administration issued a recall of vanilla Florentine cookies sold at Stew Leonard's stores in Danbury and Newington from Nov. 6 to Dec. 31, 2023.

The lawsuit indicates these cookies were consumed by Baxendale on Jan. 11, after which she "experienced an anaphylactic reaction causing shortness of breath, difficulty breathing and swallowing, dizziness, wheezing, chest tightness, lightheadedness, increased heartrate, sudden weakness, feeling of doom and dread with accompanying terror, cardiac arrest, loss of consciousness and death."

The lawsuit also claims at least 11 employees of Stew Leonard's were notified by email in July 2023 of a change in ingredients, including the addition of peanuts to the cookie recipe, by Cookies United, who manufactured the product for sale under the Stew Leonard's brand name.

See also:

• Cookies Recalled By Stew Leonard's After Death At CT Gathering: DCP
• Dancer Identified As Victim In Deadly Allergen Labeling Case Involving Stew Leonard’s

At the time of the recall in January, CEO Stew Leonard Jr. said in a statement the company was not informed of the change in ingredients.

"This has never happened at Stew Leonard's before," Leonard Jr. said in the statement sent to Patch earlier this year. "We have very strict food safety practices and one of them is having all proper ingredients listed on our labels. Unfortunately, we are buying these cookies from a company who never told us they changed the ingredients. We sold them in good faith and one customer was affected. We were devastated to learn this news and our family is sending our deepest condolences."

The lawsuit claims the statement "proved to be false" and referenced a statement later released by Cookies United that indicated the company informed Stew Leonard's of the addition of peanuts to the products in July 2023 and that "all products shipped to them have been labeled accordingly. This product is sold under the Stew Leonard's brand and repackaged at their facilities. The incorrect label was created by, and applied to, their product by Stew Leonard's."

Cookies United later released a second statement containing a communication allegedly sent to 11 employees of Stew Leonard's on July 20, 2023, providing the new labels and nutrition fact panel, according to the lawsuit.

The suit also accuses Cookies United of failing to properly notify Stew Leonard's of the ingredient change, failing to properly label that the Florentine cookies contained peanuts and distributing the cookies without proper warnings, among other accusations.

A request for comment from Cookies United was not returned Friday.

The lawsuit further accuses some of the defendants listed of "broken, unreliable and deadly labeling and packaging practices," "negligence and reckless indifference," "failed responsibility," "cover-up and false statements," "regulatory violations" and "impact on family," according to the accompanying release.

The lawsuit demands "monetary damages, punitive damages, attorneys' fees and other relief deemed appropriate by the court."

Stew Leonard's currently operates stores in Norwalk, Danbury and Newington, as well as a number of stores in New York and New Jersey. Cookies United operates out of Islip, N.Y.