If Disney gets its way in a Florida court, Simply signing up for a free trial of Disney+ would forever protect the company from lawsuits, including over its theme parks. The attorney for Jeffery Piccolo, who is suing Walt Disney Parks and Resorts over the wrongful death of his wife, called the allegation “absurd.”
Kanokporn Tangsuan, a 42-year-old New York doctor, died in October 2023 from what the coroner determined was a result of “anaphylaxis due to increased amounts of milk and nuts in her body.” as stated in the complaint. Her husband is seeking over $50,000 in damages and attorney fees.
The couple and Piccolo’s mother had chosen to dine at Raglan Road, an Irish pub in Disney Springs that is part of his resort in Orlando, Florida, because The Disney website stated that there was “allergen-free food.” The lawsuit states that they informed the waiter several times about Tangsuan’s food allergies and were assured that the dishes were allergen-free Even though they lacked the service flags that would have indicated this.
Less than an hour after Piccolo’s wife finished dinner and went shopping nearby, she had an allergic reaction. Although she administered an EpiPen to herself, she later died in the hospital.
A Disney spokesperson expressed the company’s sadness over the family’s loss and offered its condolences. the theme park is simply trying to defend itself from being included in the lawsuit, which it says is aimed at the restaurant, which it says is “neither owned nor operated by Disney.”
Does a Disney+ account prevent you from taking legal action against Disney?
Disney wants to dismiss the case in court and in arbitration because Piccolo signed up for a one-month trial of Disney+ in 2019. In doing so, he agreed to the terms of use, which stipulate that all disputes with the company must be resolved through arbitration. This includes “disputes involving the Walt Disney Company or its subsidiaries.”
In addition, the company’s lawyers claim that He agreed to a similar arbitration clause again when he opened an account to use the Walt Disney Parks website to buy tickets for Epcot Center.
Brian Denney, Piccolo’s attorney, said in the lawsuit that Forcing someone to forever give up their right to a jury trial simply by signing up for a free trial of the streaming service is “absurd” and “silly.”
“The notion that the terms a consumer agrees to when creating a free trial account for Disney+ would forever deprive that consumer of the right to a jury trial in any dispute with a Disney affiliate or subsidiary, is so outrageously unreasonable and unfair that it shocks the judge’s conscience”, the court documents state. In addition, it “bordering on the surreal,” and this also applies to wrongful death lawsuits.
