close
close

Company will not block wrongful death lawsuit related to Disney+ account

Top line

Disney is backtracking on its controversial lawsuit. The man whose wife died in a Florida theme park cannot sue the company for wrongful death because he promised to do so when he signed the terms and conditions for a free trial of Disney+ years ago. The company has now agreed to take the case to court.

Key data

Kanokporn Tangsuan, a doctor at NYU, dined with her husband, Jeffrey Piccolo, at a restaurant in the Disney Springs complex last October, shortly before she died of “anaphylactic shock due to increased amounts of milk and nuts in her body,” according to Piccolo's lawyers, despite being repeatedly assured that her food did not contain allergens.

In February, Piccolo sued the restaurant – which is operated independently of Disney but is marked as allergy-friendly on a Disney-created map of the area, the lawsuit says – and the company in state court for $50,000 to cover medical and funeral expenses and emotional distress.

However, Disney said in its response that Piccolo cannot sue the company because he had agreed to terms promising that any future disputes between him and Disney would be resolved through arbitration. He had agreed to those terms when he opened a Disney+ streaming account nearly four years before his wife's death and again when he bought theme park tickets last year.

The company was immediately criticized for its attempt to enforce such an arbitration clause. The dispute sparked a heated debate among the public and legal experts. Independent lawyer Ernest Aduwa told the BBC that the demand would “exceed the limits of contract law.”

The company first defended its legal strategy in a statement last week, saying it was “merely a defense against the plaintiff's attorney's attempt to involve us in his lawsuit against the restaurant.”

However, on Tuesday, Disney said in a new statement that the company was waiving its right to arbitration and would “litigate the matter in court.”

Get text alerts for breaking Forbes news: We are introducing SMS alerts to keep you up to date with the most important headlines of the day. Send “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or register Here: joinsubtext.com/forbes.

Key quote

“At Disney, we strive to put humanity above all other considerations,” Josh D'Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, said in the statement. “Under such unique circumstances as this case, we believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution for the family who has suffered such a painful loss.”

Important background

The subscriber agreement that Piccolo agreed to when he set up his Disney+ account stated, “Any dispute between you and us, except for small claims, is subject to class action litigation and must be resolved through individual, binding arbitration.” By agreeing to proceed only with arbitration, Piccolo — and anyone else who signed the same terms — promised to resolve disputes with a third-party mediator rather than going through the public court system. Such arbitration clauses are not uncommon. In its response to the lawsuit, Disney wrote, “Whether Piccolo actually reviewed the Disney terms is also immaterial.” Piccolo's lawyers called the argument “absurd,” and some other independent lawyers said Disney's claim that you can't sue the company for any reason because someone agreed to the streaming terms may be too broad to hold up in court.

Surprising fact

Consumers would spend hours—nearly 250 hours a year, according to the Guardian—reading the terms and conditions they agree to for every single product, software or service they use. A 2017 Deloitte survey found that 91% of people agree to legal terms without reading them. According to PC Magazine, in 2020, users would need nearly two and a half hours to read the terms of using Microsoft Teams, nearly two hours to read the terms of the game Candy Crush, and an hour and 33 minutes to read TikTok. “It is widely believed that consumers read almost nothing,” Jonathan Lipson, a law professor at Temple University, told the Washington Post.

What you should pay attention to

What's next? Piccolo's attorney Brian Denney told Forbes his client will “continue to fight in court for justice on behalf of his beloved wife.”

More information

NBC NewsDisney backtracks: Man cannot sue over wife's death because he subscribed to Disney+
BBCDisney+ terms prevent allergy death lawsuit, says DisneyWashington PostDisney seeks to dismiss wrongful death lawsuit over app's fine print

You may also like...