Disney fighting restaurant death suit with Disney+ terms “absurd,” lawyer says

Enlarge / Raglan Road Irish Pub at Disney Springs in Orlando, Florida, USA. (credit: JHVEPhoto | iStock Editorial / Getty Images Plus)

After a woman, Kanokporn Tangsuan, with severe nut allergies died from anaphylaxis due to a Disney Springs restaurant neglecting to honor requests for allergen-free food, her husband, Jeffrey Piccolo, sued on behalf of her estate.

In May, Disney tried to argue that the wrongful death suit should be dismissed because Piccolo subscribed to a one-month free trial of Disney+ four years before Tangsuan's shocking death. Fighting back this month, a lawyer representing Tangsuan's estate, Brian Denney, warned that Disney was "explicitly seeking to bar its 150 million Disney+ subscribers from ever prosecuting a wrongful death case against it in front of a jury even if the case facts have nothing to with Disney+."

According to Disney, by agreeing to the Disney+ terms, Piccolo also agreed to other Disney terms vaguely hyperlinked in the Disney+ agreement that required private arbitration for "all disputes" against "The Walt Disney Company or its affiliates" arising "in contract, tort, warranty, statute, regulation, or other legal or equitable basis."