The Curious Case Of Disney Now Avoiding Arbitration In That Food Death-Related Lawsuit (And How Disney+ Factors In)

While being able to take a trip to see what’s new at Disney World is a frequent dream for lots of people, sometimes things do go terribly wrong once fans hit that vacation goal. Unfortunately, a trip to the Orlando outpost of the Walt Disney theme parks turned tragic in 2023, when a woman died after eating at a restaurant on the property. Her widower is in the midst of a wrongful death lawsuit against the company, which they are now avoiding arbitration on, and Disney+ is involved.

What Led To The Disney World Wrongful Death Lawsuit And Why Is The Company Avoiding Arbitration?

Even if you’ve never ventured out to a theme or amusement park, you probably know that visitors spend a pretty penny to vacation at the Disney parks , or even just to step foot inside of one, and have reasonable hopes that it’ll be the trip of a lifetime. So, when Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan and her husband, Jeffrey Piccolo, visited the Disney Springs resort in October 2023, they couldn’t have guessed that their meal at Raglan Road Irish Pub (which is located at the resort but privately owned and run) would lead the doctor to have a severe allergic reaction and later die while a patient at a nearby hospital.

Piccolo eventually filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Disney for $50,000, and Deadline notes that the company recently waived arbitration, after lawyers for the Mouse House had previously asked that the case be dismissed so that it could be settled out of court. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is now working on submitting the waiver-withdrawal filing, so that both parties can eventually “have the matter proceed in court.” Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro issued a statement on the change, which said:

As you’ve likely noticed by now, this sad case doesn’t really have anything to do with any of the movies or television shows one can watch with their Disney+ subscription , or the popular streaming service itself. If you’re wondering how the streamer factors into all of this, it has everything to do with the company’s claimed “right to arbitration.”

How Does Disney+ Factor Into Potential Arbitration In The Food Death Lawsuit?

Most of us do not read the entirety of the fine print when signing up for streaming (or other) services, so it would be understandable if those of you with Disney+ didn’t realize that the terms of service for the streamer stipulate that “all disputes” you may have with “The Walt Disney Company or its affiliates” should be settled out of court through arbitration. Because Piccolo signed up for a trial to the streamer in 2019, and again in 2023 after using his Disney+ account to purchase the couple’s tickets to the Florida theme park, the company’s attorneys originally argued that he had thereby agreed to arbitration in his wife’s wrongful death suit.

According to a CNN report from mid-August, when Disney’s lawyers asked for arbitration, Piccolo’s attorney responded with his own court filing, which called the move “preposterous” and added that it was “so outrageously unreasonable and unfair as to shock the judicial conscience,” because of the corporation “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+.”

Disney seems to have seen the light this time around, and only time and the jury will tell what will be decided once things are said and done with this extremely unfortunate case.