A recent lawsuit against Disney may finally convince customers to read the fine print before signing up for any products online. Fans are worried after the company is asking a court to throw out a lawsuit made against them because a customer signed up for Disney+ five years ago.
Disney is fighting back against a wrongful death lawsuit involving a doctor whose family is suing them after he had a fatal allergic reaction after eating at an Irish pub in Disney Springs in October. The lawsuit was filed by Jeffrey Piccolo, who was married to Doctor Kanokporn Tangsuan, a family medicine specialist who worked at NYU Langone.
The company is now asking a Florida court to dismiss the lawsuit, The company argues Jeffrey agreed to settle any lawsuits against Disney out of court through the arbitration process when he signed up for a one-month trial of Disney+ in 2019 and acknowledged that he had reviewed the fine print.
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“The Terms of Use, which were provided with the Subscriber Agreement, include a binding arbitration clause,” the company wrote in its motion. “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’.”
Disney is also saying Jeffrey also waived that right when he created an account on Disney’s website and its application while planning last year's visit to the theme park with his late husband. The arbitration provision “covers ‘all disputes’ including ‘disputes involving The Walt Disney Company or its affiliates’.”
Jeffrey's lawyer is firing back saying that the company can't say that their 150 million Disney+ subscribers have waived all rights to sue the company even if the lawsuits are unrelated to the popular streaming service. “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,” attorney Brian Denney wrote in a subsequent filing in August.
Disney sent out a statement saying they are “deeply saddened” by the family’s loss but made it clear the Irish pub, Raglan Road, where Kanokporn died is not owned or operated by the company. “We are merely defending ourselves against the plaintiff’s attorney’s attempt to include us in their lawsuit against the restaurant,” the company added in the statement.
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