Records: Disney wrongful death suit dropped by widower of Long Island doctor in allergen case, records show

The widower of a Carle Place physician who suffered a fatal allergic reaction after eating at a Disney Springs restaurant in Florida in 2023 has agreed to drop his wrongful death lawsuit accusing the corporation and the eatery of negligence, records show.

It was not immediately clear if a financial settlement had been reached between Jeffrey Piccolo, of Plainview, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of his late wife, Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan, and the defendants: Disney’s Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant and Walt Disney Parks & Resorts.

A Feb. 27 court filing stipulated that Piccolo was voluntarily dismissing the lawsuit, typically an indicator that a private settlement had been reached between the parties.

Messages left with Piccolo and his attorneys, along with counsel for the defendants, were not immediately returned.

Case grabs national headlines

The case grabbed national attention after Newsday first reported that Disney attorneys had asked an Orange County Circuit Court judge 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, Disney abandoned its legal strategy of trying to force the case to arbitration, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

Tangsuan, who was a family medicine specialist with NYU Langone's Carle Place office, with expertise in treating sleep apnea, chronic diabetes and high blood pressure, dined with her husband and mother-in-law on Oct. 5 at Raglan Road, records show. 

On several occasions before ordering, Tangsuan informed the servers of her peanut and dairy allergies and the staff "unequivocally assured them that the food would be allergen free," the suit stated.

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

"When the server returned with Kanokporn Tangsuan's food, some of the items did not have allergen free flags in them and Tangsuan and Jeffrey Piccolo once again questioned the server who, once again, guaranteed the food being delivered ... was allergen free," the suit stated.

Tangsuan began having difficulty breathing after dinner, the suit said. She self-administered an EpiPen while shopping at Planet Hollywood before dying at a hospital a short time later.

A medical examiner attributed her death to anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nuts in her system, according to the litigation.

Suit argued negligence

Piccolo filed the suit in February 2024, accusing the company and the restaurant of negligence and 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.

As part of the suit, Piccolo's attorneys made dozens of document requests to the restaurant, including for the recipe and ingredients of all of the food or drink items served to their party, records show.

Last year, court filings show, the leftovers from the last meal eaten by Tangsuan — which Piccolo had kept frozen after his wife's death — were tested by InBio Lab, an independent laboratory, for nut and dairy allergens. The results of those tests were not made public.

Disney asked the court to designate the laboratory results as confidential — a move that was contested by Piccolo's attorneys, who also asked the judge to sanction Raglan Road, citing repeated abuses of the state’s discovery laws.

"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," Piccolo attorney Brian Denney wrote in an Oct. 20 court filing.

The filing also stated that five other customers at Raglan Road had "improperly received meals containing allergens in the three years before" Tangsuan's death.

"One such meal occurred only a month before our incident, when the restaurant served food containing allergens to a customer with a disclosed allergy," Denney wrote.

There were signs late last year that a potential settlement in the case may be pending, as a pair of depositions for potential witnesses in the case were canceled without explanation.

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.