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Disney reverses course on bid to block wrongful death lawsuit by widower who had Disney+ (edition.cnn.com)
submitted 2 months ago by ooli@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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[-] TipRing@lemmy.world 231 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The reputational damage that team of lawyers did to the company massively outweighs the cost of a settlement. I personally will never do business with a company who thinks the EULA or TOS of one service indemnifies them from egregious negligence in a completely different line of business. This was simply beyond the pale.

Edit to note: Despite the title, they aren't actually reversing course, they still claim they have the right to force arbitration, they are just choosing to waive it in this instance. If you do business with Disney, you are a fool.

[-] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 43 points 2 months ago

Of course they are just waving it. It is too powerful a tool for future issues to give away. But obviously it is morally completely disgusting and corrupt.

[-] Omgboom@lemmy.zip 39 points 2 months ago

We need laws banning forced arbitration

[-] inbeesee@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

When this happens again the outrage will be less, and they will be more willing to dunk on these people. Can you imagine your close family or friends killed and a ToS blocking justice for the killers?

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 13 points 2 months ago

Most people won't have heard of this. But even if they did, it's Disney. They own so much media that even if you did avoid everything Disney-branded, you might still find yourself watching something from Marvel movies, National Geographic Partners, Pixar, Lucasfilm, FX, ABC news, ESPN, Hulu... I can go on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_the_Walt_Disney_Company

[-] candybrie@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Probably can't avoid everything Disney, but I will try avoiding situations where they could physically harm me or my family.

[-] Good_morning@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 2 months ago

So, life goes on as usual

[-] Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com 147 points 2 months ago

"As such, we’ve decided to waive our right to arbitration and have the matter proceed in court.”

Notice they still claim arbitration is their right, that the streaming agreement is still valid, but would rather appease the masses to mitigate bad publicity.

[-] feannag@sh.itjust.works 91 points 2 months ago

They also don't want to test the legality of forced arbitration on something like this, where precedent against it might be set.

[-] ArbiterXero@lemmy.world 30 points 2 months ago

Especially when the judge will have seen the outrage and likely be influenced by it.

I think you’re very right.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 2 months ago

That was my first thought... They initiated it for the precedent, they must have had reason to believe they wouldn't get the ruling they wanted.

[-] jaybone@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

If not this, then what are they waiting for to actually use this?

[-] Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago

The right case where there isn’t popular support for the plaintiff.

Bonus points if the case has more of a grey area such as the plaintiff agreed to the TOS while doing something similar with another business unit and closer in time to when the incident occurs.

I.E they sign the TOS for a Disney cruise and the incident happens a week later at the park.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

Courts should keep a tally record of bogus defences and charges that a plaintiff or defendant brings for each client...

[-] anubis119@lemmy.world 98 points 2 months ago

Disney states they "Waived their right to arbitration". A weasely way of seeming to agree with the public sentiment, but actually avoiding having this ruled on right now so they can fine tune the language and try again later.

[-] DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 75 points 2 months ago

Too fucking late

[-] Red_October@lemmy.world 42 points 2 months ago

When you see [Everyone Hated That] pop up after your last choice, and you panic and try to load a previous save, but the game remembers what you already did.

[-] cordlesslamp@lemmy.today 6 points 2 months ago

hmm, that would be an interesting feature for a RPG game. Are there any games that have that feature? Like some anti savescumming?

[-] Sainteven@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 months ago

Pathologic 2. When you die it applies the consequences to all of your saves all you can't go back and change it

[-] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 months ago

Oh, that's a good point, I didn't think of it this way. I felt that Pathologic 2 handled it pretty well, because the first time I died, I was confused at how it framed the consequences (instead of a straightforward "you died! Load earlier save?", you get a conversation with an NPC that explains some of the consequences, albeit somewhat obtusely). The actual consequences of death felt surprisingly forgiving, given all I've heard about Pathologic (especially the first few deaths).

[-] GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

The original animal crossing had something like that. If you turned off the console without saving, a mole named Resetti or something like that would rant at you about how you aren't supposed to do that. The rant would get longer the more times you turned off the console without saving.

[-] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

DUHduh dun dun DUN

[-] Gaspar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 months ago

Undertale had this. It allowed you to reload the older save and undo what you did, but it kept a second, hidden save file that you couldn't easily erase.

[-] voracitude@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

I agree. A little fourth wall breaking even to go with it. "You thought you could just reload? Sorry mate, some things can't be so easily undone."

[-] cordlesslamp@lemmy.today 5 points 2 months ago

That would make an awesome Deadpool game LOL

[-] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 months ago

If executed well, the shock of a moment like that would be sublime.

[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

I understand that that annoying Undertale game did this.

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 32 points 2 months ago

They should rule on it anyway, and strike these arbitration clauses from the face of the earth. That's why Disney is backing down, not because of "oh, the humanity".

[-] Empricorn@feddit.nl 26 points 2 months ago

I think a lot of people were expecting this. I don't know what their lawyers were thinking, $50k absolutely is absolutely nothing to Disney.

Whereas, I've seen this story everywhere and no one is defending Disney. This makes them look horrible. You clicked "I accept", so now you can't sue them for an in-person issue at one of their parks? What are you talking about?? I realize they might want to set a precedent, but I don't think any judge would ignore public sentiment about this and side with Disney. So now they look awful for absolutely no gain...

[-] skibidi@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

Beyond making them look horrible, they were marching towards a court ruling against the forced arbitration clause.

Once there is a precedent for the clause being unenforceable, the clause ceases to be a deterrent to legal action - every claim would be litigated at the very least to settle the question of whether arbitration is required in a specific case.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 20 points 2 months ago

Public shaming worked on this one, but how many other terrible takes by the corporation are unspoken? Many.

[-] psycho_driver@lemmy.world 20 points 2 months ago

Memes save the world yet again.

[-] venusaur@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago

Only $50K? What happened? Did she say she was allergic to something and thy served it to her anyways?

[-] anonymouse2@sh.itjust.works 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"...in excess of $50k." This language is defined by the Florida Wrongful Death statute and means at least $50,001 but can be much more.

[-] venusaur@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Got it. Thanks!

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

Yes. And $50k is way too low.

[-] Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 2 months ago

Only $50K?

What is the cost of a human life? As little as those in power can pay for it.

[-] norimee@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

Too late.

I'm sure, I'm not the only one who definitely isn't going to try out Disney+ anytime soon.

After I had to seperate my Netflix account from my nieces and my sister, I actually planed to switch to Disney for a while to see what they offer, but not anymore.

[-] anas@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

It’s not too late for the actual reason they withdrew: They’re not at risk for forced arbitration to be challenged in court.

[-] norimee@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I just meant the damage in the public eye had been done.

Of course there are other legal implications, but I wasn't talking about that.

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

I wonder what becomes of the Hulu people being merged into Disney? Do they auto sign the new terms by simply continuing service?

[-] norimee@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

In such cases you normally get an upated terms of service notification.

If you are in the EU new regulations now demand, that the costumer actively has to agree with updated terms. Otherwise its normally just a notification with a small print ->if you don't object you automatically agree.

[-] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I was gonna hire the mafia to kill my cheating bitch wife but now I just need to watch Lilo and Stitch without pirating it. They're heroes if you ask me.

this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
368 points (98.9% liked)

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