If you subscribe to Disney+, you can't sue the company. Not even the death of your wife

Disney is attempting to dismiss a lawsuit against the company related to the death of a woman because her widower… signed up for a free trial of Disney+ five years ago.

The streaming service Disney+ has a policy that redirects legal complaints from court proceedings to mandatory arbitration. Corporate lawyers now argue that this policy somehow pertains to the case concerning the woman's death in one of its theme parks.

Jeffrey Piccolo filed the lawsuit after his wife, 42-year-old doctor Kanokporn Tansuan, passed away at "Disney Springs," Florida, last year. Piccolo and Tansuan were dining at one of the resort's restaurants. The server repeatedly assured them that Tansuan’s meal would be prepared without dairy or nuts, to which she had a fatal allergy. Shortly after the meal, the woman suffered an anaphylactic shock and died. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nuts in her system.

Disney contends that Piccolo cannot sue the company since he briefly subscribed to a free trial of Disney+ in 2019. According to its terms of use, all legal actions must be directed to mandatory arbitration: this is a common legal tactic that allows companies to evade court proceedings. The company also claims that the plaintiff used the My Disney Experience app to purchase theme park tickets—a service that also includes a similar legal clause.

Piccolo's lawyers describe the company's argument as nonsensical:

“[Disney] is clearly aiming to prevent 150 million Disney+ subscribers from ever bringing a wrongful death suit against it in front of a jury, even if the facts of the case have nothing to do with Disney+. … The idea that terms agreed to by a consumer when creating a free trial Disney+ account forever deprives that consumer of the right to a jury trial in any dispute with any division or subsidiary of Disney is so outrageously unfounded and unfair that it shocks the conscience of the court, and this court should not enforce such an agreement.”

The plaintiff seeks relatively modest compensation of over $50,000 for emotional distress, loss of companionship and protection, loss of income, as well as expenses for treatment and burial. The company's staggering response will likely deter some from ever subscribing to Disney+ or engaging with it at all.

Sources: CNN, Gizmodo