UPDATE: Disney World backpedals on potential wrongful death lawsuit
A woman dies at Disney World. Her grieving husband sues Disney for wrongful death. Now legal minds at Disney want the case thrown out of court because he’d signed up for Disney+ TV years ago.
Woman dies at Disney World after consuming a meal
It sounds like the product of “fertile legal minds,” but it begs the question, what kind of fertilizer do they use? Here’s the background, and you can pass your own judgment.
The woman, Kanokporn Tangsuan, and her husband sat down to dinner in October 2023 at Raglan Road Irish Pub. The pub is in Disney Springs, part of Florida’s Walt Disney World. Tangsuan had food allergies, and the couple was concerned that they could dine safely.
The couple questioned the waiter, pointing out Ms. Tangsuan’s allergies to dairy and nuts. They wanted assurances that what she ordered would be free of these products. According to the lawsuit, the waiter gave firm assurances that certain foods could be produced, allergen-free. The couple asked “several more times” to be certain that the vegan fritter, scallops, onion rings, and vegan shepherd’s pie would be safe for her to eat.
When Ms. Tangsuan’s food arrived at the table, some of the items had “allergen-free” flags, but some did not. The waiter repeated that the food was allergen-free. The couple had their meal, and later, the 42-year-old Kanokporn Tangsuan set off on a shopping trip in the area. While doing that, she began “suffering from a severe acute allergic reaction.”
Ms. Tangsuan knew what to do, and used her Epi-Pen in response to the reaction. Sadly, she succumbed to “anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nut in her system,” says the lawsuit. The suit says her cause of death information came from a medical examiner’s investigation.
Disney+ users “must arbitrate all disputes with the company”
Kanokporn Tangsuan’s widower, Jeffrey Piccolo, filed suit against Disney for wrongful death, seeking a $50,000 judgment. Now Disney is asking the court to throw the suit out and force it into arbitration. Their legal reasoning? They dug around and found that back in 2019, Piccolo had signed up for a one-month free trial of Disney’s streaming TV service, Disney+. The fine print in the Disney+ service says that free trial users must arbitrate all disputes with the company. They also argue that since Piccolo used Walt Disney Parks’ website to buy tickets to get into Epcot Center, they’re likewise shielded from legal action in the case.
The reaction from Piccolo’s lawyer was anything but laid-back. Attorney Brian Denney declared Disney’s “legal reasoning” “preposterous.” He said the idea that signing up for a free streaming trial would shut down a jury trial “with any Disney affiliate or subsidiary, is so outrageously unreasonable and unfair as to shock the judicial conscience.”
In his response to the Disney motion, Piccolo’s attorney wrote that Disney is “explicitly seeking to bar its 150 million Disney+ subscribers from ever prosecuting a wrongful death case against it in front of a jury even if the case facts have nothing to do with Disney+.”
If you’ve ever signed up for Disney+, you may think twice before setting foot on any of the Mouse Kingdom’s properties until the matter is settled.
##RVT1170b
Those stipulations were only for the Disney+ and ticket purchases. What about a death or injury caused by malfunction on one of their rides or a Disney employee running someone over with Disney vehicle. Sorry but Disney doesn’t stand a chance.
At least not in lower courts. They’ll tie it up with deep pockets on appeals and wear the plaintiff down.
Not only that Bob, but I don’t know if a misprint or not, the fellow is only asking for $50,000? If only $50,000, Goofy just needs to pull out the petty cash box and pay the man. I hope he is asking for half a mil or better. BTW, I know Goofy, and he is a nice gal.
Cleverly put.
Y’all can have Disney! Been there done that, sorry I did!
Gotta give those Disney lawyers credit for creativity. Maybe they should play weasels in the next Disney flick! Won’t work for squat though, it’ll just make the folks on the jury really mad. Ever since Disney “woke up” I decided to never spend a dime with them ever again.
The ceo, and the board of directors have no moral fibers in their bodies. They have totally ruined what Walt started.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂 That is absurd, but I fear Mikal is right and Disney may well outlast Piccolo during appeals. 🙁 Thanks again, have a great day, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
Walt Disney would roll over in his grave over all this!
I’m sure he’s been spinning in his grave like a drill bit watching how they transformed his legacy to a money pit.
My thoughts exactly
I say it’s time for me to cancel my disney + so sad they have so much money!!!!! I feel because what they are saying her husband should ask for more money!!!!! , money is not going to replace her but come on they need to have some kind of accountability for what happened to her instead there looking up sh*t that don’t even pertain to the law suit!!!!! I say give him the money and more!!!!
It is an embarassing response for a legendary legacy. He should sue for 10,000,000 just for the careless disregard of this woman’s life!
I feel 2nd hand Embarrassment for Disney and what they represent at this point. They remind me of Purdue pharma.
Please cancel Disney ASAP. They don’t care about their consumers at all.😡🤯
I have to say we were at Hollywood studios just last month .my husband had a seizure while in line for a ride. This was a 1st I was scared to death. Disney had emergency personal there in minutes. Than called an ambulance that was there super fast. They gave us a voucher to get back to the home we were renting when discharges. Called the hospital daily checking on us. Gave my kids and grandchildren special attention they wanted to still make there day special.( we insisted they stay and not sit in a waiting room in the ER)
Long story short they were given fast passes for the day. We were refunds our tickets for that day. Much more.
Hi, Beth. How scary for you and your husband! I hope he’s doing much better now. And I’m very glad to hear that Disney treated you so well. I’m just wondering if, like in this news story, you or he had ever signed up for a free trial of Disney’s streaming TV service, Disney+, or used Walt Disney Parks’ website to buy tickets. The fine print in those instances appear to be what Disney is falling back on in this case. Thank you. Have a good evening/night. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Yes. That was good of them indeed, hope your husband is doing well. However, this is a bit different circumstances.
That’s all nice & well for your family but this gentleman’s wife’s death should/could have been easily avoided! Come on Disney, do what’s right! No Disney for me forever & I have a new grand daughter I wanted to take to Disney but won’t because this is just a horribly disgusting side of Disney that I would like to give it to God. But we all know what he would do!!!
This is so wrong of Disney they need to pay this makes me so sad and angry at the same time makes me not want to support Disney ever again
Disgusting company, will never set foot on Disneyland or anything associated with them. Also will be my last month paying for Disney+ they clearly showed that they don’t care about their customers.
Plus, I just read an article yesterday that Disney is blaming “poor people” for the drop in their bottom line. That right there made me declare that they will never again get a penny from me…and now this. And it’s not like the husband is asking for millions of dollars. These days $50,000 is barely anything.
Meredith. I absolutely agree with you. I won’t spend a dime for anything from Disney again. Good for you.
For all the money the public pays to use their parks, tv package, movies, etc., they need to stand up and provide justice for these families!!!! They killed her and he’s only seeking $50,000??? Make it a million!
WOW……. Just simply, WOW. I don’t even know what to say about this, I cannot imagine. I would be absolutely FURIOUS if that was my loved one. If they are THAT cheap especially when they’re a multi million dollar company, $50,000 is chump change to them! Pay the poor man and have some dignity Disney!! SMH. Very disturbing. You never truly know that you’re signing your life away for a free trial. How absurd!!
The server assured the food would be fine for the customer. That’s all they could do was trust the restaurant/server and they did. They have killed someone by negligence. Manager/owner should have taken responsibility and came to find out exactly what the allergic food was, if they couldn’t serve it correctly, they should have been politely told they could not serve them! Squawk about Disney plus is ridiculous. Disney owes them allot more then $50k. So sad!
I already had a negative view of Disney when I heard about how they fired all their IT staff and replaced them with workers from India. But I don’t blame them entirely. The whole capitalist system rewards and encourages behavior like this.
Yikes. I’m assuming it is a lawyer looking for a random loophole because they have nothing. In no way should this be thrown out because of Disney+. The scary part is if Disney was funding Ron instead of fighting with him he’d probably help them out in this case.
First, condolences to the husband. Second, isn’t that the norm. It sounds preposterous, insane or however you want to phrase it, though these legal tactics aren’t really a surprise. Disney wants it thrown out, though it still has to be ruled on. Like the saying goes, “people in hell want ice water, but that doesn’t mean they’ll get it”. C’mon Disney, 50K? Have some class, compassion and most of all, a heart!
$50,000 is “chump change”.
You have to watch what you agree to.. Seems like every company wants arbitration. I bought a Honda Generator for my TT. When I pulled up the App it wanted me to agree to an arbitration clause. I deleted the app. So many things you agree to on the computers/smartphones have something embedded to take your rights away and sell your personal information.
Disney has proven again they are EVIL in many ways.
They killed that woman 50k is the least he should fucking get. Guess I just won’t be going to Disney lol
None of this has to do with the amount of the settlement. It is about a mistake made by the restaurant, one of it’s staff members and Disney itself.
As far as the waiter saying the food is safe, unless the food was prepared at completely isolated area and served separately from other foods, there is no way to guarantee that there was no cross contamination, and even then, there is a chance when it is being served.
As far as the waiter stating it is safe, they really do not know.
We avoid anything doing with Disney ever since they went WOKE.
I’m more sad about the fact her family thinks her life was only worth $50K. If my wife had died, I would be going for millions! She’s worth it.
That was my thought, 50 Grand? Just enough to cover the service? Now that have offered a ridiculous defense, drop the suit and re-file for 100 x that amount simply for the insult of the dumb Disney+ defense.
What is the relationship with RVs here?
Disney is a popular travel destination?
RVers go to Disney World? Have a good day, Larry. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Someone died due to the negligence of an employee or employees of Disney, therefore they are responsible. The 50k being sought in the lawsuit is peanuts for an enterprise like Disney but yet they fail to have compassion or take responsibility for their part…not the type of behavior I want my kids learning from a company they look up to. Disney should make this right by doing the right thing. That is the message that needs to be sent.
Actually disney doesn’t own the restaurant in this story so it wasn’t a disney employee. Raglan road rents space at disney springs. But the writers of this story didn’t put that in their story they were to busy trying to bury disney for actual facts.
Would anyone expect anything different from this current so-called Disney corporation??? They have gone off the deep end so far away from the typical “family” atmosphere when Disney World was first built. They no longer get ANY money from me.
One can point at Disney and ascribe it to being evil, inclusive or whatever label we are currently hurling across the red-blue divide the political class uses to drive wedges between folks in order to protect their power and monied interests.
As I read this its just another attempt by corporate lawyers to use every legal means at their disposal to protect the interests of their clients. An extension of the mantra that’s been floating are board rooms and business schools for the past 50 years that corporations are only responsible for the interests of their shareholders.
With this mandate patriotism, community, customers, employees and doing the right thing went out the window.
I’m pretty sure law school teaches students to defend their client by all means necessary. If you ever get sued, I’m sure you’ll want the “by all means necessary”. And that’s how the people with the most money win.
Why would a person with severe food allergies eat at an unknown restaurant? My sister -in-law has extreme peanut allergy and has a very limited list of places she can eat at as even if a specific dish does not include peanuts just having them in the kitchen can be problematic.
Exactly! The lawsuit is the “headline”…finding out she “expected” to be 100% “protected” is the real issue! Why have we become a nation of “YOU need to keep me safe” instead of “I” will be responsible for keeping myself safe!
My jury would also award 20 million in punitive damages.
$50,000? The lawyer is getting more than that daily!
NO CONTRACT IS BINDING! My husband is an attorney and we sign these documents online and in person all the time- they mean nothing. If signing in person, I write (sloppy but not illegibly) “ThisContractMeansNothing”. No one has ever caught it or told me to resign. There is so much to this story that we don’t know that is only disclosed here in favor of the husband. I imagine it will be settled in litigation. On the opposite side of corporate defense, my husband deals with scumbags that make a living suing small businesses that end up putting them out of business and big companies for millions that settle and end up passing the legal cost onto all of us.
Disney is grasping at legal straws. They’d better pray for a brain dead judge and/or jury. But I’m sure there are judges out there that would uphold their desperate pleading.My condolances to the surviving spouse.
The man should have the right to sue them because it’s their responsibility to make sure everything is safe. What if this happens to someone else?
Disney doesn’t own or run Raglan Road. The company that owns the restaurant should be the one sued.
Disney has since decided to go to trial over the Piccolo case.
Thanks, Steve. Yes, we wrote about it in this article. Because of your comment (thanks!), I’ve added a link in the original post to the updated post on the matter. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Read what you sign or electronically agree! Disney isn’t fair. I don’t like Bob.
Since Walt’s death Disney has become a very evil empire.