Disney is waiving arbitration in a wrongful-death suit filed by the husband of a woman who died after dining at a restaurant in its Disney Springs resort in Orlando last year.
Jeffrey Piccolo is suing the company for $50,000 because his wife Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan suffered an allergic reaction after consuming food at the privately run Raglan Road Irish Pub in October and later died at a local hospital. Disney’s attorneys had requested that the case be dismissed and settled out of court.
Raglan Road is a restaurant tenant at Disney Springs not owned or operated by Disney.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts had argued that by signing up for a free 30-day trial of Disney+ in 2019, and again when purchasing the theme park tickets in 2023 through his Disney+ account, Piccolo agreed to the streamer’s terms of service, which includes that “all disputes” with “The Walt Disney Company or its affiliates” be settled out of court via arbitration. Now the company has waived that arbitration and will “have the matter proceed in court.”
Disney said it is in the process of submitting the waiver-withdrawal filing in court.
“At Disney, we strive to put humanity above all other considerations,” Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro said in a statement. “With such unique circumstances as the ones in this case, we believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution for the family who have experienced such a painful loss. As such, we’ve decided to waive our right to arbitration and have the matter proceed in court.”
Piccolo’s lawyers have said that Disney’s terms-of-service argument “bordered on the surreal” and “is so outrageously unreasonable and unfair as to shock the judicial conscience.”
“In effect, his attorneys said, “Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is explicitly seeking to bar its 150 million Disney+ subscribers from ever prosecuting a wrongful death case against it in front of a jury even if the case facts have nothing to with Disney+.”
The complaint states that the family told their server repeatedly about Tangsuan’s food allergies but were assured that it would be OK.
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