Arbitration clauses are “very common,” especially when dealing with large corporations, said Ted Spaulding, a Georgia personal injury attorney.
Arbitrators are “in most cases lawyers who do this for a living” and can “act like judge and jury,” he said.
The outcome is determined by combining the arguments of both sides, and the fee is often split between the two sides.
In the United States, the enforceability of arbitration provisions varies from state to state.
In this case, Disney used the arbitration clause on their own terms to argue that a man whose wife died at Disney World could not sue in court.
Jeffrey Piccolo filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Disney after his wife, Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan, died in 2023 from an allergic reaction at a third-party operated restaurant at Disney World in Florida.
Disney said Mr. Piccolo waived his right to a jury trial when he signed up for a free trial of Disney+ in 2019.
Disney later withdrew its arbitration claim and decided to proceed with a jury trial after the lawsuit received media coverage.
“We believe this situation requires a sensitive approach to achieve a speedy resolution for the families who have suffered this painful loss,” Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro told the BBC in August. He said.
“The law rightly says, ‘You have a duty to know what you’re signing,’” says Spaulding, referring to the terms and conditions people commonly accept when using a product or service.
But, he says, “the scope has to be within the deal you agreed to.”
