Disney Backtracks on Wrongful Death Case After Public Backlash
Disney will drop its demand that a park guest go to arbitration after the internet found out about its strategy.
Jeffrey Piccolo, a widower whose wife died following her dinner at a Florida restaurant Disney had advertised as allergy-friendly, will be allowed to take his claim against the company to court. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts had tried to force Piccolo into arbitration, claiming that due to fine print on some of his purchases prohibited him from taking Disney or any of its subsidiaries to court. While Disney pointed to multiple transactions for its defense, the one that made international news was their claim that Piccolo could not sue because he had accepted the terms of service for a one-month free trial of Disney+ years ago.
Piccolo filed the suit claiming that his wife, Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan, died from an allergic reaction following a visit to Florida's Walt Disney World Resort's Raglan Road Irish Pub in October 2023. While Disney does not own Raglan Road Irish Pub, it is situated on Disney land, and an area map provided by Disney had reportedly characterized the book as allergy-friendly.
"At Disney, we strive to put humanity above all other considerations. 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," Josh D'Amaro, the chairman of Disney Experiences, said in the statement. "As such, we've decided to waive our right to arbitration and have the matter proceed in court."
Public Citizen, a consumer-rights organization, took to social media to celebrate Disney's about face. "Putting public pressure on big corporations is a moral imperative," the group posted on Threads.
Piccolo claims that he and Dr. Tangsuan had made clear with their server that she had a potentially fatal allergy to dairy and nuts, but the medical examiner found elevated levels of both in her body after death. Tangsuan tried to use her EpiPen to control the allergic reaction, but it was not enough to save her.
Forced arbitration clauses are a common way big companies try to mitigate their exposure to lawsuits, particularly ones that can cost millions of dollars and/or hurt the company's reputation if they play out in public. Such clauses are common in the fine print of contracts, terms of service, and end-user license agreements. Besides the Disney+ trial, Piccolo had supposedly also agreed to a similar clause when purchasing his tickets to Walt Disney World. The tickets were reportedly never used, since Dr. Tangsuan died before they went. Legal experts have expressed serious doubt that Disney could succeed on the merits of the argument, and Piccolo's lawyer Brian Denney had called Disney's argument "so outrageously unreasonable and unfair as to shock the judicial conscience."
h/t CNN
