Disney is trying to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the widower of a 42-year-old New York University doctor who died in Florida last October after suffering an allergic reaction after eating at a theme park restaurant, saying he signed up for the streaming service years ago.
Kanokporn Tangsuan’s widower Jeffrey Picolo has sued Disney. However, according to court documents, the streaming media now claims the $50,000 suit should be dismissed because Picolo had agreed to arbitration when he first signed up for a one-month trial of the Disney+ streaming service in 2019, court documents revealed.
Tangsuan and Piccolo ate at the Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant in October last year. Piccolo said his wife was severely allergic to dairy and nuts, and the couple chose to eat at the pub because they thought Disney would have proper safety regulations, the Daily Mail reported. According to the lawsuit, the couple repeatedly asked their server about allergen-free food, and were assured the same when they ordered onion rings, broccoli, corn fritters and scallops.
Shortly after leaving the pub, the 42-year-old medical professional began having trouble breathing and fell unconscious. Despite getting an epi pen himself, Tangsuan died shortly afterwards at a local hospital.
Piccolo is seeking damages of more than $50,000, in addition to mental pain and suffering, loss of income and funeral expenses. He claimed in the lawsuit that the theme park was negligent and failed to provide proper training to its employees about food allergies, reports the Daily Mail.
In the motion filed on May 31, Disney argued that the Disney+ Subscriber Agreement created by Picolo in November 2019 and used to purchase tickets to Epcot (Walt Disney theme park) in 2023 required him to agree to their terms and conditions. The company argued that he agreed to the terms of their ‘Subscriber Agreement’, which has an arbitration clause in Section 7.
,[The section] The company argued that the rule applies to ‘all disputes’ involving ‘The Walt Disney Company or its affiliates.’ Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is an affiliate of The Walt Disney Company. Disney said the same terms applied to the Epcot purchase.
Disney further stated that by agreeing to the terms, Piccolo represented his late wife.
The widower’s lawyers have called Disney’s latest offer “absurd” and “grossly unfair,” the New York Post reports.
The lawyers also argued that Disney lost its right to seek arbitration when it filed its first response to Piccolo’s suit without mentioning the case.