The lawsuit over Órla Baxendale’s fatal allergic reaction is moving forward without wrongful death claims against the CEO and employees of grocer Stew Leonard’s.
A Superior Court judge has ruled that, under Connecticut law, the individuals cannot be held liable in the ballet dancer’s tragedy related to a mislabeled cookie.
However, the judge refused to grant the defendants’ motion to strike the entire lawsuit brought by Órla Baxendale’s family and estate.
The judge points to the Connecticut Product Liability Act (CPLA) in the October 15 decision to strike the wrongful death counts against CEO Stew Leonard Jr. and other employees. The CEO also cannot be held liable as an individual for violating product liability law, the judge ruled.
The decision does permit the product liability counts to remain in the lawsuit against Stew Leonard’s Holdings, LLC, Stew Leonard’s Danbury, LLC, and Cookies United.
The case is “going strong” in its efforts bring accountability for Baxendale’s death, attorney Howard Hershenhorn tells Allergic Living. He is a partner in the New York City firm Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman, and Mackauf, representing the Baxendale family.
The New York City-based dancer died on January 11, 2024 of anaphylaxis to peanut. Her devastating reaction was triggered by eating a cookie sold by Stew Leonard’s. Órla, who was 25, had severe allergies to peanuts and tree nuts.
The label on the package of the Vanilla Florentine cookies did not include peanut as an ingredient. Nor did the label show peanut in the “contains” statement. The cookies, made by supplier Cookies United, were bought at a Stew Leonard’s supermarket in Connecticut.
Órla Case Heads to 2027 Trial
Now, the plaintiffs’ attorneys are collecting deposition testimony from employees as they prepare for trial, Hershenhorn says. The trial is set to begin in May 2027 at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Connecticut.
The testimony adds to information the attorneys have learned from federal and state investigations. Other Stew Leonard’s customers also have contacted the Órla Baxendale estate’s attorney to share their experiences with allergen labeling issues at the grocer.
Stew Leonard’s did not respond to Allergic Living’s request for comment.
The judge’s recent ruling on the defendants’ motion to strike reflects a similar decision in August 2025. In that ruling, the judge granted the grocery chain’s motion to dismiss the wrongful death charges against individual defendants, including CEO Stew Leonard Jr.
The individual employees had been part of an email exchange that is a point of controversy between New York-based Cookies United and Stew Leonard’s. Stew Leonard Jr. said the cookie supplier had failed to inform the supermarket that the cookie ingredients had changed to include peanuts.
But Cookies United said it had sent a notice to Stew Leonard’s in July 2023 about the addition of peanut. The company noted that several employees received an email about the change.
Judge on Who Can Be Sued
The Baxendale estate’s attorneys filed a substitute complaint following the August 2025 decision. They included more claims based on information they had learned since filing the original complaint in May 2024.
The updated complaint contends that ongoing problems in the grocery chain’s allergen labeling system contributed to Órla’s fatal reaction. For example, it points to multiple product recalls at Stew Leonard’s due to inaccurate allergy labels.
Despite including more claims to support the wrongful death counts in the updated complaint, the judge maintains those counts are not permissible under the law.
“Here, no matter how many additional factual allegations that the plaintiffs make against the individual employees in the wrongful death count, the count cannot survive,” the judge writes in the decision. “The court has ruled as a matter of law, the CPLA is the exclusive remedy for all of the plaintiff’s wrongful death claims.”
Related Reading:
Dancer Dies of Severe Reaction to Cookie Not Labeled for Peanut
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