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A woman with a severe dairy allergy died after eating at a Northampton pizzeria. Her family is taking legal action.
More than two years after Kierstin “Kiki” Hedin’s death, her leftover pizza remains stuck in legal limbo as her family seeks to have it tested for dairy.
A New Hampshire man is taking legal action against a Northampton pizzeria where his daughter — who had a severe dairy allergy — dined before suffering an anaphylactic reaction that claimed her life in 2023.
More than two years after Kierstin “Kiki” Hedin’s death at age 25, her leftover pizza from HighBrow Wood Fired Kitchen & Bar lingers in a Northampton Police Department freezer, stuck in legal limbo as her family seeks testing to determine whether the food contained dairy.
Hedin had a “life-threatening and severe dairy allergy” for which she had been receiving medical care since childhood, according to the civil complaint her father, Eric Hedin, filed last month on behalf of her estate.
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Meeting friends for lunch at HighBrow on Jan. 8, 2023, she ordered the “Sticky Ribs” appetizer and a “Braised Short Rib & Grilled Red Onion” pizza. HighBrow’s menu indicates the pizza is typically made with asiago and mozzarella cheese, but Hedin requested it be prepared with “vegan/lactose-free mozzarella,” per the complaint.
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Soon after eating the food, however, Hedin “began experiencing symptoms of an allergic reaction” and ultimately suffered anaphylaxis that left her with severe brain damage, the complaint states. Despite using her EpiPens and receiving emergency medical care, Hedin fell into a coma and died five days later, her mother, writer Tina Hedin, explained in her Substack “Letters From Turkey Town.”
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Police and prosecutors have indicated they will only release the frozen pizza leftovers to be tested for dairy by court order or agreement between Hedin’s family and the restaurant. But with discussion over testing logistics purportedly stalled, Eric Hedin is now taking legal action.
At this point, Hedin’s “complaint for discovery” isn’t seeking monetary damages, instead requesting a judge’s order that would allow him to have the pizza tested. A lawyer for Hedin declined to comment on the complaint, while attorneys for the restaurant did not return requests for comment.
Per correspondence included in the complaint, Hedin’s lawyers sent an email last December proposing the use of Massachusetts-based Trelfa Labs — the only in-state facility equipped to handle the necessary testing, according to the filing. A month later, lawyers for the restaurant countered with a request for a more complex test that would not only detect the presence of milk proteins, but also determine their quantity.
“However, no lab in Massachusetts performs these quantitative tests,” the complaint noted, so Hedin’s lawyers proposed using the Food Allergy Research & Resource Program laboratory at the University of Nebraska. The complaint alleges a stalemate arose over logistics, particularly a request from the restaurant’s attorneys to have their own expert present during testing — something the FARRP lab does not allow.
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To date, the restaurant “has not agreed to the testing and has offered no alternative solutions,” the complaint states.
“With the statute of limitations expiring in six months,” and after consulting the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, Eric Hedin “is left with no alternative but to seek judicial intervention,” the document explains.
The restaurant has not yet filed a formal response to the complaint.
Born in Florida and raised for years in Keene, New Hampshire, Kiki Hedin was a “child of the tropics” and a “nature girl right from the start, barefoot in the sand, noticing every bug and leaf and flower,” according to her obituary in The Keene Sentinel.
“Kiki was adventurous and daring, yet also excelled at goofing off and relaxing,” the obituary read, noting she “lived life with a joyful heart and a spirit that was pure sunshine.”
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