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

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.

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.

"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.

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