Disney drops bid to toss lawsuit from LI doc Kanokporn Tangsuan’s widower because of his Disney+ subscription

In interviews with the Daily Business Review, Law360, Newsday, and Florida Politics, Davis Goldman Co-Managing Partner Aaron Davis discussed a recent wrongful death lawsuit filed by Jeffrey Piccolo, the Long Island widower of Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan. The case will proceed in court after Disney decided to drop its legal strategy of trying to move the case to arbitration.

Dr. Tangsuan, a Carle Place physician, died from a fatal allergic reaction after dining at Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant in Disney Springs in October 2023. Disney had previously argued that the lawsuit should go to arbitration, citing a Disney+ streaming service agreement Piccolo had signed nearly four years earlier, which they claimed barred him from suing the company.

Aaron said Disney made a “business decision” to drop its arbitration claim. “The court of public opinion, and how they are perceived, is the most valuable thing for a company like Disney,” he told Newsday. “This is not a situation where Disney had some kind of epiphany about doing this family a service by waiving arbitration. This was a calculated business decision.”

Read more here from:

• Daily Business Review: https://www.law.com/dailybusinessreview/2024/08/20/disney-does-an-about-face-on-florida-lawsuit-over-patrons-death/
• Law360: https://www.law360.com/florida/articles/1869904/disney-made-right-move-dropping-arbitration-bid-attys-say
• Newsday Media Group: https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/disney-allergy-death-lawsuit-a20550
• Florida Politics: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/692257-disney-angered-fans-by-using-disney-terms-to-fight-a-lawsuit-could-it-happen-again/