Disney Claims Widower’s Disney+ Sub Means He Can’t File Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Disney has been slammed for attempting to have a wrongful death lawsuit dismissed because a widower signed up for a Disney+ free trial years ago.

The lawsuit in question was filed by Jeffrey Piccolo, who’s still grieving the loss of his wife Kanokporn Tangsuan, a former New York University doctor who was killed by a severe allergic reaction last fall.

Tangsuan, 42, died in an Orlando hospital shortly after dining at Raglan Road Irish Pub in Disney Springs, which is a part of the Walt Disney World Resort.

Tangsuan repeatedly stressed to servers that she had nut and dairy allergies when she ordered scallops, onion rings, broccoli, and corn fritters, the filing said. Despite this, Tangsuan allegedly began struggling to breathe and collapsed shortly after leaving the joint on Oct. 5. An autopsy revealed she died from anaphylaxis despite the immediate use of an EpiPen.

Months after the vacation from hell, Piccolo sued Disney for at least $50,000 in damages under Florida’s wrongful death act. He also asked for damages for his mental anguish and suffering, loss of income, and to help cover funeral expenses.

Disney, being the entertainment juggernaut it is, has dug deep to find a reason why it shouldn’t be liable for Tangsuan’s untimely death.

The company’s legal team uncovered that Piccolo once signed up for a free month of the Disney+ streaming service in 2019, which required him to agree to terms of those conditions on his Playstation. Those conditions demanded that any dispute—aside from small claims—must be “resolved by individual binding arbitration,” the New York Post reported, citing a May 31 motion filed by Disney’s legal team.

Disney added in its motion that Piccolo agreed to a similar arbitration clause while using the “My Disney Experience” app last year when he purchased tickets to Epcot. That, Disney has argued, means Piccolo’s lawsuit should be tossed.

This month, Piccolo’s attorneys indicated in follow-up motions that they were shocked by Disney’s claims, calling the company’s argument “fatally flawed,” “preposterous,” and “outrageously unreasonable.”

“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,” Piccolo’s lawyers wrote.

Piccolo’s attorneys also claimed Disney’s reasoning is irrelevant because Piccolo filed the wrongful death suit as the “personal representative” of his wife and not as himself. The lawsuit remained open in Florida as of Wednesday.