US News

By Olivia Land

The family of the professional dancer who died after eating a mislabeled Stew Leonard’s cookie is suing the popular grocery chain, the cookie manufacturer and employees for wrongful death.

Órla Baxendale, 25, was rehearsing at a dance studio in Connecticut on Jan. 11 when she went into anaphylactic shock from a severe allergic reaction to a Vanilla Florentine cookie sold by the chain that contained peanuts.

The supermarket failed to note the allergen risk on the package’s label, her family says.

The tragic incident was the result of “gross negligence and reckless indifference to the rights of others and an intentional wanton violation of those rights” by professionals who failed to update the ingredient label to note that the cookie now contains peanuts, Baxendale’s mother alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Baxendale’s family is seeking damages in the excess of $15,000 in addition to monetary and punitive damages determined by the court, according to the filing viewed by The Post.

The lawsuit accuses the chain, the Connecticut branch where the specific box of cookies was purchased and several employees of negligence on the grounds that they ignored a July 20, 2023, missive from the manufacturer Cookies United LLC that stated the Florentine Cookies now contain peanuts.

At least 11 Stew Leonard’s workers received the email, but the supermarket failed to update the ingredient labels to note the new allergen risk, the suit says.

The incorrect label resulted in Baxendale – who had a “severe peanut allergy” – eating to the cookie and subsequently going into the severe allergic reaction that resulted in her death, the plaintiffs allege.

The fact that Stew Leonard’s actually recalled several products for incorrect or incomplete labels in the weeks after Baxendale’s death was “further proof of the broken, unreliable, inherently dangerous…systems in place” at the grocery chain, the suit claimed.

Stew Leonard Jr., the president and CEO of the grocery chain, admitted to his and the company’s culpability in Baxendale’s death in a Jan. 24 video statement on the incident, the filing added.

Cookies United should also be held liable because it ultimately manufactured, packaged and sold the product to Stew Leonard’s, the suit says.

Several official regulators publicly admonished both the grocery store and manufacturer in their assessments of Baxendale’s death, the 45-page filing noted.

“Correct labeling so that people who have food allergies can appropriately protect themselves is of utmost importance,” Connecticut Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said of the incident.

“I cannot stress enough the importance of food allergy awareness so that an avoidable tragedy like this doesn’t happen again,” Juthani said.

By failing to ensure that the Vanilla Florentine cookies were accurately labeled, Stew Leonard’s and Cookies United LLC violated state and federal regulations, the lawsuit said.

A rep for Stew Leonard’s declined to speak to The Post about the suit. Cookies United did not immediately reply to The Post’s request for a comment.

Órla Baxendale was originally from Manchester, England, and moved to New York City in 2018 to study on a scholarship at the Ailey School.

She had performed at New York Fashion Week and was involved in productions at Lincoln Center.