OP UPDATED - Disney wants wrongful death lawsuit thrown out bc the plaintiff had Disney+

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Walt Disney Co on Monday agreed to have a court decide a wrongful death lawsuit brought by a widower in Florida, after earlier arguing the case belonged in arbitration because the man signed up for a trial of streaming service Disney+ in 2019.

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"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, chairman, Disney Experiences told Reuters in an emailed statement.

"As such, we've decided to waive our right to arbitration and have the matter proceed in court," D'Amaro added.

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The complaint details the family’s repeated conversations with their waiter about Tangsuan’s allergies. They allegedly raised the issue upfront, inquired about the safety of specific menu items, had the server confirm with the chef that they could be made allergen-free and asked for confirmation “several more times” after that.

“When the waiter returned with [Tangsuan’s] food, some of the items did not have allergen free flags in them and [Tangsuan] and [Piccolo] once again questioned the waiter who, once again, guaranteed the food being delivered to [Tangsuan] was allergen free,” the lawsuit reads.

The three of them ate, then went their separate ways: Piccolo brought the leftovers to their room, while his wife and mom headed for the stores. After about 45 minutes, Tangsuan “began having severe difficulty breathing and collapsed to the floor.”

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In late May, Disney’s lawyers filed a motion asking the circuit court to order Piccolo to arbitrate the case — with them and a neutral third party in private, as opposed to publicly in court — and to pause the legal proceedings in the meantime.

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Arbitration is generally considered a more efficient and cost-effective method of resolving disputes than litigation, and Disney said explicitly in court documents that the “main benefit of arbitration is avoiding heavy litigation costs.”

The reason it says Piccolo must be compelled to arbitrate? A clause in the terms and conditions he signed off on when he created a Disney+ account for a month-long trial in 2019.

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In early August, Piccolo's lawyers filed a response slamming Disney’s rationale as “preposterous,” bordering “on the surreal” and “fatally flawed for numerous independent reasons.”

“There is simply no reading of the Disney+ Subscriber Agreement which would support the notion that Mr. Piccolo agreed to arbitrate claims arising from injuries sustained by his wife at a restaurant located on premises owned by a Disney theme park or resort which ultimately led to her death,” they wrote in the 123-page filing.

They confirmed he did create a Disney+ account on his PlayStation in 2019, but he believes he canceled the subscription during the trial because he hasn’t found any charges associated with it after that point.

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