Lawyers are slamming The Walt Disney Co.’s “surreal” defense for the accidental death of a woman at one of their restaurants. According to the House of Mouse, the contract that they signed to start a Disney+ free trial means they cannot sue.
Attorneys for the mega corporation argue that the fine print of the online agreement states that all future disputes with the company will be decided through the use of mandatory, binding, third-party arbitration — apparently, even including cases that have nothing to do with Disney+, whatsoever.
Jeffrey Piccolo filed a wrongful death suit in February, in which he says it’s the Disney Springs resort’s fault his wife Kanokporn Tangsuan died in October 2023 after mistakenly ingesting an allergen at Raglan Road Irish Pub located in The Landing near the company’s Florida theme park.
In an Aug. 2 filing, Piccolo’s lawyer Brian Denney called the company’s argument “fatally flawed,” according to court papers first reported by Law & Crime .
Denney argued that Disney’s take on the situation would mean that anyone who signs up for a Disney+ free trial “will have forever waived the right to a jury trial enjoyed by them and any future Estate to which they are associated.” He added, “this argument borders on the surreal.”
“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 lawyers wrote.
They added that Disney is “explicitly seeking to bar its 150 million Disney+ subscribers from ever prosecuting a wrongful death case against it in front of a jury.”
In his suit, Piccolo says that his wife had repeatedly talked to the restaurant staff about her severe nut and dairy allergies, and they had incorrectly assured her the food she ordered did not contain either.
A court hearing on Disney’s motion is set for Oct. 2 in Orange County, Fla., according to NPR.
After the lawsuit was filed, staffers at Raglan Road told the New York Post in February, “I don’t know if this is because of the incident, but now the first thing we ask when we take the order is whether anyone at the table has any allergies.”
The post Widower Condemns Disney for ‘Outrageous’ Claim He Can’t Sue for Wife’s Theme Park Death Due to Disney+ Account appeared first on TheWrap .
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