Órla Ruth Baxendale died at the age of 25 in Jan 2024 during a family gathering after eating a cookie purchased from Stew Leonard’s which contained peanuts despite no allergy warnings on the label. In response the New York City based personal injury firm of Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf filed on May 25 a wrongful death lawsuit naming the Danbury store where the cookies were purchased, Stew Leonard Jr., Stew Leonard Holdings LLC, Cookies United LLC, and seven individual grocery store employees as defendants.
Representatives of Stew Leonard’s have maintained that the producer of the Florentine cookies sold under the store’s name failed to inform them that the recipe had changed from one previously sold by the store which did not contain allergens.
The complaint alleges that this was not the case.
“Despite eleven Stew Leonard’s employees having been told by the cookie manufacturer six months before they sold the cookies that the recipe changed and they now contained peanuts, the supermarket chain ignored those warnings and packaged and sold the cookies without properly changing the label and without warning their customers that they contained peanuts. Like every consumer, Órla Baxendale, who had a known severe peanut allergy, relied on the product labeling to ensure her safety,” said the firm in a press release.
