--- title: Panera Grilled Cheese With Peanut Butter Prompts Lawsuit description: A Massachusetts family sued Panera alleging negligence because the restaurant made a grilled cheese with a "large dollop of peanut butter" canonical: https://time.com/4358481/panera-peanut-allergy-lawsuit/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-06T17:24:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:24:56.702Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Parents Sue Panera for Serving Daughter Peanut Butter in Grilled Cheese og:description: They wrote that the girl had a severe peanut allergy in their online order og:url: https://time.com/4358481/panera-peanut-allergy-lawsuit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf963d9d3de0c169d/69889688a988cac7f86b81e3/panera-pbj-sue-allergy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Panera Bread To Eliminate Artificial Food Additives By 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Parents Sue Panera for Serving Daughter Peanut Butter in Grilled Cheese twitter:description: They wrote that the girl had a severe peanut allergy in their online order twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf963d9d3de0c169d/69889688a988cac7f86b81e3/panera-pbj-sue-allergy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Parents Sue Panera for Serving Allergic Daughter Peanut Butter in Grilled Cheese  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Jun 6, 2016 5:24 PM CUT  A sign marks the location of a Panera Bread restaurant on in Chicago, May 5, 2015. A sign marks the location of a Panera Bread restaurant on in Chicago, May 5, 2015.Scott Olson—Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Jun 6, 2016 5:24 PM CUT A Massachusetts family [filed a lawsuit against Panera](http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/05/family-allergic-child-sues-panera-for-putting-peanut-butter-grilled-cheese-sandwich/ugk2bWDfWSui6f8wSFimdO/story.html "undefined") last week alleging negligence because the restaurant made their daughter a grilled cheese with a “large dollop of peanut butter inside”—after the online order specified twice that the five-year-old girl had a [peanut allergy](http://time.com/the-allergy-crisis/ "undefined"). John and Elissa Russo brought the suit after ordering a grilled cheese for their daughter on Jan. 28 and having to [hospitalize](http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/06/panera-sued-over-sandwich-served-to-child-with-peanut-allergy.html "undefined") her overnight for the severe allergic reaction she had after biting into the sandwich, [The Boston _Globe_ ](http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/05/family-allergic-child-sues-panera-for-putting-peanut-butter-grilled-cheese-sandwich/ugk2bWDfWSui6f8wSFimdO/story.html "undefined") reports. After the daughter realized the mistake, she reportedly kept asking “Am I going to die?” A Panera manager said the mistake may have arisen due to a language issue that caused a staff member to see “peanut” and believe it was part of the order. A Panera spokesperson declined to comment to the _Globe_. \[[_The Boston Globe_](http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/05/family-allergic-child-sues-panera-for-putting-peanut-butter-grilled-cheese-sandwich/ugk2bWDfWSui6f8wSFimdO/story.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4358481/panera-peanut-allergy-lawsuit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4358481/panera-peanut-allergy-lawsuit/"},"headline":"Parents Sue Panera for Serving Allergic Daughter Peanut Butter in Grilled Cheese","datePublished":"2016-06-06T17:24:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:24:56.702Z","description":"They wrote that the girl had a severe peanut allergy in their online order","url":"https://time.com/4358481/panera-peanut-allergy-lawsuit/","keywords":["Food & Drink","Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf963d9d3de0c169d/69889688a988cac7f86b81e3/panera-pbj-sue-allergy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf963d9d3de0c169d/69889688a988cac7f86b81e3/panera-pbj-sue-allergy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Panera Bread To Eliminate Artificial Food Additives By 2016","caption":"Panera Bread To Eliminate Artificial Food Additives By 2016","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/food-drink/","name":"Food & Drink"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4358481/panera-peanut-allergy-lawsuit/","name":"Parents Sue Panera for Serving Allergic Daughter Peanut Butter in Grilled Cheese"}}]}] ```