Could Disney+ derail a wrongful death lawsuit after a woman died at Disney World?

Raglan Road at Disney Springs.

To fight a wrongful death lawsuit, Disney is bringing its Disney+ and My Disney Experience App service terms as ammunition into the court case.

It’s a move that might surprise the millions of people who subscribe to watch their favorite Disney movies or make a reservation at the theme park using the app.

The suit stems from a woman whose family says she died from her severe food allergies on her Disney World vacation. The woman’s widower Jeffrey Piccolo was a Disney+ subscriber in 2019 and had Walt Disney World tickets linked in his My Disney Experience App for his wife’s fatal trip last year.

Disney is now arguing Piccolo signed the fine print for the terms of service for Disney+ and the app, agreeing to arbitration for any dispute.

“This lawsuit is destined for arbitration,” Disney attorneys said in a May 31 court filing in Orange Circuit Court, asking for Piccolo’s lawsuit to be paused. “Further litigation would only generate needless expenses and waste judicial resources.”

Piccolo, on the other hand, is demanding a jury trial.

“Disney is attempting to rob my client of his right to a jury trial, in part, because he signed up for a trial period on the Disney+ app several years ago, which expired,” West Palm Beach attorney Brian Denney said in a statement. “We are in the process of preparing a legal and factual response to this novel motion and will fight it vigorously.”

Disney’s strategy in fighting the lawsuit comes at a time when some of the world’s most popular theme parks are run by massive conglomerates with big portfolios stretching across businesses in technology, theme parks and entertainment.

Most Disney fans looking to watch Marvel movies on Disney+ would be shocked to know their terms of service could ever be applied to a situation in the theme parks like this, said Len Testa, a longtime Disney fan who covers the parks as a co-host of the Disney Dish Podcast and runs Touring Plans.

“You would not think signing up for a streaming service would impact your rights in a restaurant in Orlando. No one would think that,” Testa said.

Disney filed the Disney+ contract in the ongoing wrongful death lawsuit court file. The contract says a Disney+ subscriber can’t “have a dispute heard as a class action or private attorney general action. … No arbitration or proceeding can be combined with another without the prior written consent of all parties to the arbitrations or proceedings.”

Piccolo’s wife, Kanokporn Tangsuan, died in October from anaphylaxis which is the medical term for a “severe, life-threatening allergic reaction.”

Piccolo’s lawsuit says they had been eating at the popular Disney Springs Irish pub, Raglan Road Pub and Irish Restaurant, and had warned the restaurant of her serious food allergies. Shortly after the meal, Tangsuan, a 42-year-old doctor from New York, collapsed and died.

In the lawsuit filed against Disney and Raglan in February, Piccolo said they had alerted the restaurant about her extreme allergies to dairy and nuts several times and checked in advance which menu items had allergens in them.

Florida Politics broke the story of Piccolo’s lawsuit that went on to get media coverage in The New York Times and other national outlets.

Raglan Road, which isn’t owned or operated by Disney, did not respond to comment Tuesday and was not part of Disney’s motion invoking Disney+ and the app.

Disney declined to comment for this story.