Disney+ Streaming Contract Bars Man From Suing After His Wife Dies in a Park Restaurant, Disney Says
The husband of a 42-year-old New York Doctor who died while dining in a restaurant at a Disney resort last October is fighting for his right to sue after Disney says he signed away his rights to sue when he signed a user agreement for a Disney streaming service years ago.
Disney, which has filed a motion to have the $50,000 wrongful death case thrown down, could set a precedent if courts side with the entertainment giant.
In October 2023, Jeffrey Piccolo was dining with his mother and his wife Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan at the Raglan Road Irish Pub in Florida when she consumed a dish that had allergens that were life-threatening to Dr. Tangsuan. Piccolo shared that the couple chose to dine there because the establishment advertised themselves as being “allergy-free.” When the couple dined at the Disney resort restaurant, they confirmed and re-confirmed with the wait staff that certain meals were guaranteed to be allergy-free, even though the restaurant served other dishes that did not have the guaranteed “allergen-free flag.”
Despite the couple’s due diligence, about an hour after consuming her meal, Dr. Tangsuan began to have difficulty breathing and was taken to the hospital. Although she self-administered her epi-pen, she was declared dead at the hospital.
Piccolo’s $50,000 lawsuit says that Disney is partially to blame because they promoted the restaurant as being a safe dining option for individuals with severe allergies like that of Dr. Tangsuan. However, Disney says they should be absolved from the lawsuit because of a user agreement Piccolo signed when he entered into a one-month trial of Disney+ in 2019. In the fine print of that agreement, Disney says Piccolo agreed to terms and conditions that included “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 says that Piccolo entered into this agreement yet again when he signed up for an account on Disney’s website to purchase tickets to the park that would later lead to his wife’s death.
By signing these user agreements, Disney says that Piccolo does not have legal grounds to pursue a jury trial in a wrongful death lawsuit, but must instead enter into legal discussions outside of the court setting to resolve his concerns, through a process known as arbitration.
Piccolo’s legal team has called Disney’s attempt to shield itself from legal action “absurd” and that a clause in a streaming service agreement that is being applied to a wrongful death lawsuit in a Disney resort restaurant is an overreach.
In an August 2nd filing, Piccolo’s attorney, Brian Denney shared, “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.”
Disney has been quick to push back against the lawsuit sharing, “We are merely defending ourselves against the plaintiff’s attorney’s attempt to include us in their lawsuit against the restaurant,” adding they were “deeply saddened” by the news of Dr. Tangsuan’s death.
UPDATE: Disney has since released a statement that it is changing its approach to this case and will no longer attempt to enforce the arbitration clause in the user agreement, but will instead allow the case to proceed in court.
