Disney moved to undo a PR disaster of its own making on Tuesday, formally withdrawing a request to force a wrongful lawsuit to be settled out of course that cited the Disney+ user agreement.
The lawsuit was filed in February by Jeffrey Piccolo whose wife, Kanokporn Tangsuan, died in October 2023 after having a fatal allergic reaction to food she was served at Disney-owned restaurant in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The lawsuit states she had been assured her dish did not contain anything she was allergic to.
Disney lawyers moved to have the case forced out of course after learning that in 2019, Piccolo had signed up for a Disney+ free trial. The company argued that the Disney+ user agreement that mandates arbitration for any Disney+ dispute somehow applied to literally any conflict that user may have with Disney.
A court hearing on Disney’s motion was initially set for Oct. 2 in Orange County, Fla., but has now been canceled.
“With such unique circumstances as the ones in this case, we believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution for the family who have experienced such a painful loss,” Josh D’Amaro, the chairman of Disney Parks, said in a statement provided to the New York Times. “As such, we’ve decided to waive our right to arbitration and have the matter proceed in court.”
“Although Disney has withdrawn its motion, the arbitration clauses they relied upon in their motion still exist on their various platforms. This potentially puts other people injured by Disney’s negligence at risk of facing a similar legal challenge,” Piccolo’s lawyer Brian Denney said.
After the lawsuit was filed, staffers at Raglan Road told the New York Post in February, “I don’t know if this is because of the incident, but now the first thing we ask when we take the order is whether anyone at the table has any allergies.”
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