Walt Disney Company has agreed to let a court decide a wrongful death lawsuit, brought by a Florida widower, after initially arguing that the case belonged in arbitration due to the plaintiff’s subscription to their streaming service, Disney+. The lawsuit was filed by Jeffrey Piccolo, whose wife, Kanokporn Tangsuan, died last year from an anaphylactic reaction to food at Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant in the Disney Springs shopping complex in Orlando. The restaurant was heavily advertised as being accommodating to people with food allergies, and the waiter allegedly assured Tangsuan that her order was safe for her to eat. Unfortunately, Tangsuan’s body showed boostd levels of nut and dairy, and she died shortly thereafter.
Disney’s initial response to the lawsuit was that they were not liable because they had no control over the restaurant’s operations or management and were merely the landlord. Later, they filed a motion to have the case sent to arbitration based on Piccolo’s Disney+ subscription and his use of the company’s website to purchase theme park tickets. However, this change in tack was met with skepticism by one plaintiffs’ lawyer, Joseph Sellers, who pointed out that consumers must be clearly notified when they are agreeing to arbitrate specific types of claims in order for an agreement to be enforceable.
Disney Waives Arbitration in Wrongful Death Lawsuit (Image via Getty)
Sellers believes it is unlikely that a streaming service agreement would apply to a restaurant meal, and that Disney’s decision to drop their arbitration motion suggests that their lawyers may have realized that the agreement would not hold up in court. Another possibility is that Disney’s lawyers believed it would be embarrassing to litigate the issue and then lose, making it a more pragmatic decision to waive their right to arbitration and allow the case to proceed in court.
In a statement, Disney’s chairman of experiences, Josh D’Amaro, said that the company believes the situation warrants a sensitive approach in order to expedite a resolution for the family who have experienced such a painful loss. By waiving their right to arbitration, Disney may be trying to demonstrate that they are taking the family’s loss seriously and are willing to work with them to find a resolution. The case will now proceed in court, where a judge will determine whether Disney is liable for Tangsuan’s death.
