Disney Has Decided Blocking a Wrongful Death Lawsuit Because of the Disney+ Terms of Service Was Probably the Wrong PR Move After All

CNN — Disney has reversed course on a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the widower of a woman who died after eating at a resort restaurant, saying the matter can now proceed to court.

Previously, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts had argued in court documents that the widower’s Disney+ streaming service contract means he cannot sue for the alleged wrongful death of his wife.

In the lawsuit, plaintiff Jeffrey Piccolo alleged that his late wife, Kanokporn Tangsuan, suffered a fatal allergic reaction from a meal she ate at a park restaurant in 2023. But Disney tried to get the lawsuit tossed by asking the court to move the dispute to arbitration, meaning the case would not go before a jury or otherwise continue in court.

Disney’s argument was that Piccolo had allegedly entered into a subscriber agreement when signing up for a Disney+ trial years ago – which requires users to arbitrate all disputes with the company.

In a statement sent to CNN on Monday, Josh D’Amaro, the chairman of Disney Experiences, said the company was waiving its right to arbitration.

“At Disney, we strive to put humanity above all other considerations. 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,” he said in the statement.

“As such, we’ve decided to waive our right to arbitration and have the matter proceed in court.”

All it took for Disney to reverse course on one of the most insane legal arguments of all-time was a week of getting lambasted in the press for trying to fuck over a grieving widower to save an infinitesimal amount of money that it could have given him immediately without a single accountant ever noticing. Maybe there's hope in this world, after all.

I guess it's a good thing that Disney eventually backed off this nonsensical defense and Jeffrey Piccolo will now get some money either in the lawsuit or a settlement — and almost assuredly more than he was suing for to begin with — but it's still shocking it had to come this far to reach the reasonable solution. And if this never became a huge story, this poor guy would have potentially ended up getting fucked.

I hope he comes back for 100 times what he was originally asking for now. Disney has now inflicted even more emotional distress by making Piccolo relive this entire traumatic experience and I'd say that's worth about $4.95 million.

If there's any positive to come out of all of this, it's that we can all at least take solace in the fact that most of the ridiculous shit we've agreed to in various terms of service isn't enforceable when push comes to shove.