Can a Disney+ Subscription Keep a Widower From Suing Disney in Court?

Jeffrey Piccolo sued after his wife died from an allergic reaction to food served at a Disney resort restaurant. Disney wants the case handled by an arbitrator.

Months after a man sued Walt Disney Parks and Resorts over the death of his wife from a severe allergic reaction at a Disney World restaurant, the company responded with an argument that would keep the case from coming before a jury.

The matter should be settled by an outside arbitrator, Disney said in a legal filing, because the man had agreed to settle any disputes out of court when he signed up for a free trial of its streaming service, Disney+.

The man, Jeffrey Piccolo, sued earlier this year, several months after his wife, Kanokporn Tangsuan, who was allergic to nuts and dairy, ate at the resort’s Raglan Road Irish Pub in Orlando, Fla., experienced a severe allergic reaction and died.

Dr. Tangsuan, who lived in Carle Place, N.Y., was a family medicine specialist affiliated with N.Y.U. Langone Hospital Long Island.

Her husband is seeking damages over $50,000, the minimum required to file in Florida circuit court, but his lawyers expect the actual damages to be much higher if the case is decided by a jury, they said.

In a motion to require that the matter be settled by an arbitrator, who would issue a binding decision, lawyers for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts emphasized that the Raglan Road is “an independently owned restaurant” and said that its relationship to Disney is that of “a landlord and tenant.”