Disney has asked a Florida court to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit filed earlier this year regarding a woman who passed away due to anaphylaxis after a meal at Disney Springs, citing an arbitration waiver in the terms and conditions for Disney+.

In the latest update for the Disney Springs wrongful death lawsuit, Disney cited legal language within the terms and conditions for Disney+, which “requires users to arbitrate all disputes with the company.” Disney claims Piccolo reportedly agreed to this in 2019 when signing up for a one-month free trial of the streaming service on his PlayStation console.

In the May 31 motion filed to move the wrongful death lawsuit to arbitration, Disney attorneys said that the Disney+ subscriber agreement states that any dispute, except for small claims, “must be resolved by individual binding arbitration.”

Attorneys for Piccolo called Disney’s latest motion “preposterous,” and that it’s “‘absurd’ to believe that the 153 million subscribers to the popular streaming service have waived all claims against the company and its affiliates because of language ‘buried’ within the terms and conditions,” according to Newsday.

The notion that terns agreed to by a consumer when creating a Disney+ free trial account would forever bar that consumer’s right to a jury trial in any dispute with any Disney affiliate or subsidiary, is so outrageously unreasonable and unfair as to shock the judicial conscience, and this court should not enforce such an agreement.

Brian Denny, Piccolo’s West Palm Beach attorney in a filing on August 2, 2024

  • deranger@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    36
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    The linked article sucks compared to the BBC article.

    Importantly, and not that I agree with it, but they also accepted the arbitration clause for the account used to buy a ticket to the park in 2023. It’s not just the subscription arbitration clause that’s involved. This will likely complicate things.

    Disney adds that Mr Piccolo accepted these terms again when using his Disney account to buy tickets for the theme park in 2023.

    • solarvector@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      3 months ago

      I doubt they re-accepted it when they used their Disney account in any way a normal person would consider acceptance. That’s why the corporation includes clauses like “by continued use of our service you agree to any further errosion of human rights we feel infringes upon our current growth or profit model”.

      Buying tickets was the most recent use of service.

    • spongebue@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      3 months ago

      Getting warmer with that one, but Disney Springs is not a ticketed theme park. It’s a shopping and restaurant thing, basically an outdoor Disney-themed mall.

      • deranger@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        Mr Piccolo alleges that the restaurant at Disney World - in Orlando, Florida

        Seems both he and Disney say it’s at the park, idk. It’s bullshit either way, I hope he’s able to get some justice.