Gather ‘round, kids, and let me tell you the tale of how streaming “The Mandalorian” could apparently stop you from suing a mouse.
Recently, a man named Jeffrey Piccolo filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Disney. A tragic story: his wife, Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan, died after suffering a severe allergic reaction at Raglan Road Irish Pub in Disney Springs October 2023. According to reports, she had clearly informed the staff about her food allergies. Despite this, she was served something she shouldn’t have been, and she collapsed and died shortly after.
Now, you might think this is when Disney steps up, offers condolences, and cooperates with the investigation like any reasonable entity would. But no. Disney reached into its bag of legal tricks, pulled out a shiny, glittery scroll, and shouted, “Aha! You clicked ‘Agree’ to our streaming service Terms & Conditions. Checkmate!”
Disney+ terms prevent allergy death lawsuit, Disney says
Disney's legal team argued that because Piccolo had previously signed up for a free trial of Disney+ FOUR YEARS PREVIOUS (2019), he had agreed to an arbitration clause tucked into the 74-page novella of Terms & Conditions that none of us ever read (unless you’re a robot or a lawyer, or a robot lawyer). According to Disney, this meant he waived his right to sue any part of the Disney empire. Including the theme parks, the restaurants, and presumably even a haunted animatronic if it malfunctions and turns on you.
This is like saying, “Hey, I know your leg got crushed on Dumbo's Wild Ride, but you did use that Lion King meme on Facebook a few years back, so…”
Thankfully, the public response to this legal jujitsu was swift and
appropriately horrified. After being dragged harder than a villain in a
Pixar sequel, Disney eventually backed off and dropped their attempt to
enforce the Disney+ clause. The lawsuit will proceed in court where, you
know, actual justice happens. Ideally. Of course, Disney has a Space
Mountain full of lawyers, so there is no way this guy will ever see any compensation, but the
streaming agreement clause thing was thrown out so...WIN?
Now, let’s take a long, hard look into our magic mirrors (the judgmental kind, not the one that just tells you you’re pretty) and ask what this story really reflects. We all joke about how Terms & Conditions are unreadable. We scroll, we click, and we move on with our lives because, really (like Cinderella), who has the time? But when a streaming contract tries to sneakily ban you from holding a megacorporation accountable for something that happened in a completely unrelated part of the business. That’s not quirky or clever. That’s creepy. That’s dystopian. That's evil stepmother treachery. That’s… very on-brand for 2025, actually.
In the end, this story has everything: tragedy, bureaucracy, streaming subscriptions, and a lesson we should probably tattoo on our collective consciousness:
Never trust a giant corporation to have your best interests at heart. They will sell you a churro, kill you with it, and then argue you consented to it because you tapped your toes to “We Don't Talk About Bruno” while watching Encanto.
So next time you click “Agree,” remember: you might just be signing away your right to sue if Donald Duck ever breaks your kneecaps.
This is why I'm diehard Warner Bros. over Disney. Daffy Duck would never break my kneecaps.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Warner Brothers was always much more violent than Disney. How many times did Elmer Fudd shoot someone in the face?
DeleteMega corporations are only interested in their bottom lines, and those profits increasing. That's it. We'd do best to remember that.
ReplyDeleteHey, long time, no see. How ya been?
It has been a long time. We are fine. Still in Vietnam.
DeleteI just got out of the habit of blogging. For almost three years, I had a blog post almost every day. It has been two years since my last one.
Warner Brothers Discovery owns less places that can kill you, but they're involved with plenty of them too, and struggling more financially, so I doubt they'd be above this sort of tactic. Corporation are going to do this because it's what they do. Non-profits aren't above it, either. Try suing a religious hospital system for malpractice sometime (or have their collection agency come after you). Business gonna business.
ReplyDeleteThere is no shortage of horror stories from the legal departments of corporations. It is a sad state when it really is about the bottom line, but alternatively, if they don't show that they are willing to protect themselves, they would get a wave of people trying to take advantage of them.
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