Disney has now backtracked on its push to have a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a New York University doctor’s grieving husband tossed because of fine print in the widower’s Disney+ streaming service subscription.
The theme park juggernaut revealed its decision to reverse course late Monday after sparking outrage for arguing in court filings that Jeffrey Piccolo shouldn’t be able to sue over his wife Kanokporn Tangsuan’s allergy-related death because of the subscription agreement he had signed years earlier.
“At Disney, we strive to put humanity above all other considerations,” Josh D’Amaro, the chairman of Disney Experiences, said in a statement to The Post about the company’s decision.
“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.”
Disney has yet to officially file its latest motion in Orange County, Fla., circuit court as of Tuesday morning, records show.
The move comes a week after it emerged Tangsuan’s bereaved widower was embroiled in the heated legal battle after slapping Walt Disney Parks and Resorts with the wrongful death suit — arguing the NYU doctor suffered a fatal allergic reaction after eating at a Disney Springs restaurant in Florida last October.
Disney, however, fired back and claimed the $50,000 suit should be thrown out of the courts because Piccolo had agreed to arbitrate all disputes with the company when he signed up for a one-month Disney+ trial in 2019, court papers said.
The company argued, too, that Piccolo had agreed to similar arbitration language when he used the “My Disney Experience” app to buy tickets to visit the Epcot theme park in September last year, according to the filing.
Disney had claimed both agreements had required Piccolo to consent to the arbitration fine print before purchasing, the motion added.
But Piccolo’s lawyers quickly slammed Disney’s “preposterous” motion as “outrageously unreasonable” — and argued it was “fatally flawed.”
“The notion that terms agreed to by a consumer when creating a Disney+ free trial account would forever bar that consumer’s right to a jury trial in any dispute with any Disney affiliate or subsidiary, is so outrageously unreasonable and unfair as to shock the judicial conscience, and this court should not enforce such an agreement,” Piccolo’s wrote in an Aug. 2 motion.
Tangsuan, 42, died on Oct. 5 of a severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis just hours after dining at the Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant with her husband during the ill-fated trip.
She had repeatedly stressed to waitstaff that she suffered from severe nut and dairy allergies before ordering, the original complaint charged.
The physician, who had worked Manhattan’s NYU Langone hospital, went on to eat scallops, onion rings, broccoli and corn fritters — but fell ill soon after, the filing said.
Despite being hit with an epi-pen immediately after collapsing, Tangsuan later died at the hospital.
The Post reached out to Piccolo’s lawyers in the wake of the latest developments.
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