AP reported yesterday that "Disney drops bid to have allergy-death lawsuit tossed because plaintiff signed up for Disney+."
I'm not a lawyer but the initial legal argument being made by Disney seems to me to be pure bad faith horseshit. This piece in New York Magazine looks at the lawsuit stemming from the allergic reaction death of a doctor named Amy Tangsuan at a Disney World Resort restaurant:
Tangsuan was allergic to dairy and nuts, and before she and her husband ordered, (they) asked a waiter whether any of the allergens were in her order… The waiter consulted with the chef, and then assured her that they could be made dairy- and nut-free.
About 45 minutes after Tangsuan ate, she went into an anaphylactic shock so severe her EpiPen was useless. She died soon after at a nearby hospital. In February, her husband filed a wrongful-death suit against the restaurant and Disney's theme-parks division, seeking money damages.
Tragic, no doubt, though tragedies happen every day. Here's the part that just makes me furious:
[Her husband] Piccolo's lawsuit is currently in danger of getting thrown out of court and locked down into private arbitration, where further details would likely never come to light. Disney has argued that Piccolo gave up his right to sue as far back as 2019 when he signed up for a free trial of Disney+ and again in 2023, when he agreed to terms and conditions on the company's website to purchase tickets to the theme park.
Am I reading this right? Because he signed up for Disney's streaming service, which has an arbitration clause in the fine print, he's given up his right to sue the corporation for any reason under any conditions forever? It seems like a ludicrous argument. But the fact that Disney lawyers are arguing this with a straight face means there must be at least some chance that this ploy will work.
Did they try this now abandoned tactic to save money? Of course. But it sounds like they're really doing it to save face — by moving cases to arbitration, it's permanently out of the public's view; however the case is settled, the general public will almost certainly be in the dark. PR problem of killing guests thus solved.
They must have missed the part where Jiminy Cricket sings "always let your conscience be your guide."
