I know Disney is as cliché as an evil megacorp gets, but I'm going to need a source for this before I start believing in just any absurd sounding tale.
The guy only asked for $50K after they killed his wife. They're trying all this batshit crazy nonsense to get out of paying $50,000.
That is a painfully low amount for killing someone, even to a layman. I could pay that if I had to, just not all at once.
To aggressively put it into perspective compared to Disney's other costs of doing business, Disney is estimated to spend on average $95K per day on fireworks. Totaling $35M per year, up in smoke. Couldn't be bothered to shell out $50K for killing somebody, though. ¯\(°_o)/¯ Their morals, priorities seem to be a little off.
I think their idea is more that an arbitration is private while a trial is public. The trial might also set precedent for future cases, while the arbitration wouldn't.
Now of course, the fact that this story made it in the press completely defeats the first part of the point.
They’re trying all this batshit crazy nonsense to get out of paying $50,000.
The idea being that if they pay 50k to this guy, it might get someone else to want 500k... or 5 million... or more. Alternately, "We got the lawyers, may as well use them."
Yeah, avoiding precedent is pretty important for big corporations. Not only might someone else sue for more, but I think a successful lawsuit can make future suits easier to win and might open them up to other damages.