Disney lawsuit: Company opposes release of tests on food eaten by Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan in fatal reaction case, court documents show

Walt Disney Parks & Resorts is attempting to block the public release of laboratory tests conducted on the leftovers of the final meal eaten by a Carle Place physician, before she suffered a fatal allergic reaction in 2023, court records show.

Attorneys for Jeffrey Piccolo, of Plainview, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of his late wife, Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan, have also asked a Florida judge to sanction Disney’s Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant, citing repeated abuses of the state’s discovery laws, according to new filings in the case.

The wrongful death suit accuses Disney and the restaurant of negligence, arguing that waitstaff repeatedly assured Tangsuan, 42, that her Oct. 5, 2023, meal would be allergen-free. A medical examiner attributed Tangsuan's death to anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nuts in her system, the suit states.

'Transparency should be the rule'

Earlier this year, the remains of the last meal eaten by Tangsuan were tested by an independent laboratory for nut and dairy allergens.

But court records show Disney has designated the laboratory results as confidential — a move that's being contested by Piccolo's attorneys.

"When a case involves the safety of food served to the public, transparency should be the rule, not the exception," Brian Denney, Piccolo's Florida-based attorney, said in a statement.

Piccolo's attorneys expect to present the results of the lab tests to the court but declined to discuss its findings with Newsday, citing Disney's confidentiality designation.

"It is unclear what good faith basis Disney has to designate the results of the food testing as confidential, which would keep the results shrouded in secrecy," Denney wrote in an Oct. 20 motion to the court, adding that at least five other customers at the restaurant improperly received meals containing allergens in the three years before Tangsuan's death.

Attorneys for Disney and Raglan Road did not respond to requests for comment.

The lab results are not the only documents Disney has deemed confidential that are being challenged by Piccolo's attorneys.

Among the documents the corporate giant contends should not be made public are deposition transcripts of restaurant workers, the eatery's menu, an employee handbook, training manuals, guest accident reports, food prep instructions, along with Disney's lease with Raglan Road and its agreement participating in the amusement park's dining plan.

Requests for sanctions

Denney also wants the court to sanction Raglan Road for engaging in "discovery abuse" after the restaurant's attorneys twice offered new evidence during or prior to depositions of key lawsuit witnesses.

For example, moments before Piccolo's deposition was set to begin in mid-July, Raglan Road provided a different menu for the day of the incident than it had produced more than a year earlier, records show.

The following month, the waiter who served Tangsuan her final meal testified in his deposition to a so-called "floor approach" to handling guests' allergies that he'd followed on the day of Tangsuan's death which deviated from Raglan Road's written food allergy policy and training materials.

However, in the middle of day two of the waiter's deposition, Raglan Road attorneys said those training materials, which it had previously produced to the court, were incorrect, court records show.

"This misconduct has been anything but harmless," Denney wrote in court filings. "Plaintiff's counsel have spend dozens of hours conducting additional discovery and preparing this case based on incorrect information, only to be ambushed with the 'correct' but undisclosed information during depositions."

According to the lawsuit, on repeated occasions before ordering, Tangsuan informed the Raglan Road servers of her peanut and dairy allergies and the staff "unequivocally assured them that the food would be allergen free."

Tangsuan ordered a broccoli and corn fritter, scallops, onion rings and vegan shepherd's pie, the family said.

When the server returned with Tangsuan's food, some items did not have allergen free flags in them, and the couple questioned the server, who again guaranteed the food was allergen-free, the suit states.

Tangsuan began having severe difficulty breathing shortly after dinner while shopping at Planet Hollywood, and self-administered an EpiPen, the suit states. She later died at a hospital.

Piccolo is seeking damages in excess of $50,000 pursuant to Florida’s wrongful death act, for mental pain and suffering, loss of income and companionship, and medical and funeral expenses.

Tangsuan was a family medicine specialist with NYU Langone's Carle Place office, with expertise in treating sleep apnea, chronic diabetes and high blood pressure.

In August, Disney asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, citing legal language agreed to years earlier when Piccolo signed up for a one-month trial of the Disney+ streaming service that requires users to arbitrate all disputes with the company.

Weeks later, facing a flood of negative media attention following Newsday's story, Disney abandoned its legal strategy of trying to force the case to arbitration, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.