Disney has U-turned on a bid to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit in the US by relying on the terms of service for a simple streaming trial.
The suit was filed by a man whose wife allegedly died after experiencing an allergic reaction at Disney World in Florida. In the case, Disney lawyers had planned to invoke the terms of service that the man agreed to when signing up for a Disney+ free trial, which mentioned that users agree to settle any disputes with the company out of court via arbitration.
It appears the U-turn came after a public backlash, rather than a flaw in the legal case. So could a similar thing ever happen in future, where a term in a sign-up contract extends to the use of other services by the same company? At face value, this is quite an old problem, as contract lawyers have been debating exclusion of liability for centuries.
