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Disney gives up on trying to use Disney Plus excuse to settle a wrongful death lawsuit (www.theverge.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

96 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.”

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[–] [email protected] 282 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

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.”

Sounds to me like they just want to keep that umbrella waiver in the Disney+ agreement rather than have that, rightly, struck down in court. They are very much still working under the assumption that a subscriber clicking "I Agree" to watch The Mandalorian waives any right to trial against any business unit of Disney Corp for any reason.

Absolutely despicable.

[–] [email protected] 101 points 2 months ago (2 children)

You agreed to Disneys TOS

Assassins from Disney licking their fingers because they can legally kill you /j

Its the dumbest death you can have in an amusement park, dying because the restaurant didnt labeled their allergies right and that the corporation tries to dismiss it because of an DIGITIAL contract that was made for a digital service.

But this is the bs that you got by applying law so freely.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yep, exactly.

They're asserting and graciously waiving a "right" they invented themselves in order to keep that from being challenged in court.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Just this time, because I care about Disney so much, I'm waiving my right to steal from Disney.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 months ago (1 children)

An umbrella arbitration clause like this, if it were argued at court, surely would only be held up for cases related to Disney+. At least one would hope. Having such an agreement cover entirely separate arms of a company is ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Arbitration contracts, especially in click-through licenses, are always bullshit and should be universally thrown out.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Arbitration contracts ~~especially in click-through licenses~~ are always bullshit and should be universally thrown out.

There should be no reason why a corporation ahould be able to avoid the justice system for any reason.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I could see very specific cases where arbitration makes sense with a very well defined scope. "Parties agree that disputes over widget quality related to this agreement are to be adjudicated by the Widget Quality Counsel". The courts are not always the best arbiters for every dispute.

However, what we have now is every corporation finding ways to slide arbitration clauses of global scope into every transaction. That is always bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

If you give an inch, they take a mile. No forced arbitration clauses, anywhere, ever, period.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

Yeah, imo they got worried that people would start asking government agencies to make legislation about things like this, so theyd rather backtrack now so they can keep it as part of their TOS.

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[–] [email protected] 225 points 2 months ago

"We got caught by the public, and we want to keep this excuse possible in the future. So we're dropping it from now so the court doesn't set a legal precedent that will fuck us over."

[–] [email protected] 140 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Arbitration is an abomination, abused to quash the rights of regular people who could hardly afford to take a stand against the big guy in the first place.

That a person can sign away their legal rights at all is a miscarriage of justice.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah that's basically "slavery is okay if you sign a contract first". Should be self evidently wrong.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I mean in the US it's currently "slavery is okay if you get thrown in jail first".

So it's unfortunately not that big of a leap in their logic

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Arbitration, generally, is not a bad idea. It's less formal and usually less expensive when you have a disagreement. It really is designed for, say, two friends who are going into business together and want to keep things friendly while giving each other the ability to seek an external arbitor.

However, it's our late stage capitalism that has made forced arbitration an abomination, with corporations seeking to limit their liability by making it unprofitable for individuals to seek legal remedies against very large corporations. Corporations that have the legal equivalent of nukes verses the average customer who has a peashooter.

I'm at the point whenever I see these clauses to snail mail then my own terms and if they don't react, I assume that my terms were accepted. I've been doing this now for the last few years and have yet to have a company shut off my service or reply back.

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[–] [email protected] 136 points 2 months ago (6 children)

I fucking hate Disney.

With such unique circumstances as the ones in this case, we believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach

Yeah if they possessed sensitivity they would've never tried this. The only reason they changed their mind is public backlash which would've been obvious to foresee.

So they're myopic and insensitive. Also just cruel. It doesn't matter in the slightest if they could've gotten away with this. It's straight evil to try it.

[–] [email protected] 72 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They said they decided to waive their right to arbitration. They still think that's their right, fucking sickening.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think they put it that way because they want to signal how powerful they are while pretending to be ethical

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Exactly, i thought of this as a tapping of the holstered guns they're openly wearing

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I'd say actually the only reason they backed down is because they realized they were going to lose and didn't want to risk their arbitration clause getting struck down in a court.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago

This was exactly it.

They'll wait for a case they can win for sure and let court precedent destroy their customers following.

If the reversed happened, it would be a massive win for consumers. The mouse can't allow that.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Yeah, maybe. It definitely wasn't for a selfless reason

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

That made me so angry!

When this story first came up, an Ars Technica commenter explained that the only thing to do in this scenario is to grieve with the widow, and that it was a ludicrous fight to have. It's pretty bad for Disney to pretend like they agree with that viewpoint after already putting the widow through more distress.

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[–] [email protected] 131 points 2 months ago (5 children)

we decided to waive our right to arbitration

Fuuuuck you with an umbrella. You didn't have that right, you just used that bullshit idea to save yourself from rightful consequences. You only stopped that idea after the massive backlash, as always. You don't get to act like the good guy uere., fuck you.

I can't wait for Disney to go bankrupt and be split up in twenty normal entertainment companies

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[–] [email protected] 119 points 2 months ago (3 children)

we’ve decided to waive our right to arbitration

That's legalese for "We still think that we have that right, we will use it again".

[–] [email protected] 56 points 2 months ago

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".

[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"Just when we have less heat on us and the news doesn't have everyone so riled up and hating us."

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

I think they realized that this is the kind of case that could affect arbitration laws if pushed up in appellate courts.

[–] [email protected] 87 points 2 months ago (1 children)

"We've decided" lol. Keep telling yourselves that

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago

“Right to arbitration”

[–] [email protected] 81 points 2 months ago (1 children)

lol they still think they have the right to arbitration.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

They could settle out of cout for an amount that they could earn back in under a week. Now they wanna go to court where they'll end up paying more. Get fucked Disney

[–] [email protected] 57 points 2 months ago

we’ve decided to waive our right

"we are not wrong, fuck you"

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I'm just confused how anyone thought this was a good idea to begin with. Surely the strong public backlash could have been easily anticipated.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Most of the time, nobody notices.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Most of the time it's not as egregious as trying to use a free trial for streaming to force arbitration for wrongful death at an amusement park. I truly can't imagine any world where this doesn't blow up because it's so outrageous.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

Legal and PR are different departments.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Boycott Disney, the high seas exist if you need to get your fix

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago

"unique circumstances" we got caught and too many people heard about it

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Too. Late.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

Jesus, this story made me feel so fucking gross. So fucking disgusting what they were trying to do.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I don't advocate the high seas.

But man, a TOS like this makes me glad I didn't watch Andor via Disney+. I certainly don't feel bad about it now.

And to the Disney legalbot, I watched it via a friend, of course.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

A disney SWAT team kicked down my door and scream-asked me at gunpoint if I'd seen the Mandalorian.

I hear it's been happening a lot.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

The guy lost his wife. Fuck Disney for trying this shit.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

For a company that pushes so hard to have family friendly image, they had to pull this ridiculous stunt.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I wonder how these stupid attempts ever get pass these supposedly smart executives. You have to be pretty stupid to hold someone to a agreement that was over four years before. The idea that you are bound by a contract for a online service after you cancel it is absurd and downright stupid.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

I wonder if anyone cancels their Disney+ over this. I know I would if I had it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Disney: Guilty of murdering its resort guests as well as the entire Star Wars franchise.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Insane that there was no one from Disney side who did not try to stop this in the first place. Don't mind the empathy, nobody saw this as a bad move for their image? Unless they were being sued for 100+ M I don't see how this made sense financially for them.

And this terrible dry response from them, insane.

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