Disney tried to force the case into arbitration by citing the agreement on the widower’s Disney Plus trial account.
Disney has now agreed that a wrongful death lawsuit should be decided in court following backlash for initially arguing the case belonged in arbitration because the grieving widower had once signed up for a Disney Plus trial.
“With such unique circumstances as the ones in this case, we believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution for the family who have experienced such a painful loss,” chairman of Disney experiences Josh D’Amaro said in a statement to The Verge. “As such, we’ve decided to waive our right to arbitration and have the matter proceed in court.”
That’s legalese for “We still think that we have that right, we will use it again”.
Or for “we don’t want this to get invalidated in court - we need to save it so we can intimidate someone else in the future”.
“Just when we have less heat on us and the news doesn’t have everyone so riled up and hating us.”
I think they realized that this is the kind of case that could affect arbitration laws if pushed up in appellate courts.