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Family of dancer who died from eating mislabeled Stew Leonard’s cookie sues store

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

Órla Ba💝xendale, 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 ingr⛎edient label to note that the cookie now contains peanuts, Baxendale’s mother all🍎eged in a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Órla Baxandale died from an allergic reaction to a cookie Jan. 11. Instagram/orla_baxendale

Baxendale’s family is seeking damages in excess of $15,000 in addition to monetar💜y 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 employe🐭es 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 ingre💯dient 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 suffering the severe allergic reaction that resulted in her death, the plaintiffs allege.

The Vanilla Florentine cookies were not labeled to indicate that they contain peanuts. Connecticut Department of Public Health

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

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

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

Stew Leonard Jr. addresses Baxendale’s death in a video statement Jan. 24. News12 Bronx

Several official regulators publไicly admonished both the grocery store and manufacturer in their a𓂃ssessments 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 Publi🐽c 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 ag🅷ain,” Juthani said.

The manufacturer Cookies United LLC is also named in the lawsuit. News12 Bronx

By failing to ensure that the Vanilla Florentine cookies we🍸re accurately labeled, Stew Leonard’s and Cookies United LLC violated stﷺate 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 𒅌moved to New York City in 2018 to study on a scholarship at the Ailey School.

She had per👍formed at New York Fashion Week and was involved in🧸 productions at Lincoln Center.