Disney ditches Disney+ ‘terms of use’ defense in wrongful death lawsuit

Aug 20

Simone Del Rosario Business Correspondent

By Simone Del Rosario (Business Correspondent), Brent Jabbour (Senior Producer), Emma Stoltzfus (Editor)

Walt Disney Co. agreed to let a court decide a wrongful death lawsuit at one of its theme parks. The reversal comes after it attempted to send the case to arbitration because the man who brought the case agreed to terms of use for Disney+ when he signed up for a trial years earlier.

Bias Distribution Powered by Ground News™

The lawsuit says Kanokporn Tangsuan had a fatal allergic reaction after eating at an Irish pub located on a Disney property. It says she and her husband, Jeffrey Piccolo, along with his mother, decided to eat at the restaurant in 2023 because the website said it offered “allergen-free food.” The suit alleges Tangsuan had told the server several times she had a severe allergy to nuts and dairy.

Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.

Point phone camera here

“We believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution for the family who have experienced such a painful loss,” Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro said in an email statement to Reuters and other media organizations. “As such, we’ve decided to waive our right to arbitration and have the matter proceed in court.”

Initially, Disney argued it should not be liable because it doesn’t own Raglan Road Irish Pub and therefore had no control over its operations.

The company later claimed that when Piccolo agreed to Disney+ terms of use in 2019, and when he bought tickets using the theme park’s website in 2023, he agreed to send any dispute between the user and the company to an arbitrator.

“The first page of the Subscriber Agreement states, in all capital letters, that ‘any dispute between You and Us, Except for Small Claims, is subject to a class action waiver and must be resolved by individual binding arbitration,'” the company said in a filing when it attempted to have the case dismissed.

Had the case been allowed to go to arbitration, it would have gone before a neutral third party that is not a judge. But after the company faced some bad press for the defense, Disney struck a different tone.

Piccolo’s lawsuit seeks $50,000 and other damages including loss of income and medical and legal costs.

Tags: arbitration, Disney, Disney Plus, Disney World, Disney+, Health, Health Care, Lawsuit, Orlando

Simone Del Rosario:

Disney is giving up on its controversial defense to a wrongful death lawsuit. The company initially argued the case belonged in arbitration, not court, because once upon a time, the grieving widower signed up for a trial of the streaming service Disney+.

In a statement to multiple media outlets, Disney experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro said, “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 to court.”

The case is this. In October 2023, Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan dined at Raglan Road Irish Pub in Disney Springs with her husband, Jeffrey Piccolo, and her mother-in-law. The lawsuit states they chose the restaurant because they believed it would have proper safeguards to accommodate Dr. Tangsuan’s allergies.

See, Tangsuan was severely allergic to dairy and nuts, and her husband says in the lawsuit they repeatedly told the restaurant and confirmed her dishes were allergen-free.

But after the meal, Tangsuan suffered a severe acute allergic reaction to the food and despite using her EPIPEN, she died from anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nut in her system, according to the lawsuit.

Her husband is seeking damages in excess of $50,000, as well as damages for mental pain and suffering, loss of companionship, loss of income and medical and funeral expenses.

At first, Disney argued it wasn’t responsible because it is merely the landlord for the restaurant.

Then, it argued that the husband “ignores that he previously created a Disney account and agreed to arbitrate ‘all disputes’” against Disney, adding that the language covers Piccolo’s claims against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

Disney said Piccolo agreed to this when he signed up for a Disney+ trial in 2019, and again when he used the Disney website to buy theme park tickets.

Piccolo’s lawyer called Disney’s argument “preposterous” and “so outrageously unreasonable and unfair as to shock the judicial conscience.”

In the latest filing and after loads of backlash, Disney backtracked its arbitration claim and agreed to let the lawsuit move forward in court.