Steve Jobs and Disney Would Both Be Proud of This Clause That’s Buried in the Casa Bonita Reservation’s Release Page
Among the many changes that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone instituted when they acquired the dinner entertainment megaplex Casa Bonita in Lakewood, Colorado was a complete overhaul of the cuisine — the cuttlefish and vanilla paste must be on the secret menu.
Earlier this year, the Walt Disney Company created a PR catastrophe for themselves when they moved to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit filed against them by a widower whose wife died after eating allergen-contaminated food at a Disney Parks restaurant on the grounds that the a clause in the Disney+ subscriber agreement signed by the plaintiff barred him from pursuing any legal action against the company except through third-party arbitration. Apparently, Parker and Stone looked at that fiasco and felt that Disney’s only misstep was putting that clause in their streaming agreement rather than on the reservations page.
When the Casa Bonita finally ended their famously exclusive soft-opening phase and began accepting general reservations on Tuesday, the Denver-area NBC affiliate 9NEWS noticed that the surprisingly lengthy 7,000-word terms of use agreement that all prospective patrons must sign before reserving their table contains a concerning clause that’s functionally identical to the one hidden in the Disney+ agreement.
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Apparently, Casa Bonita is following the Mickey Mouse strategy for protecting themselves from liability — let’s hope they never add a pangolin exhibit to the experience.
Just as the Disney+ agreement states, the terms of use for Casa Bonita guests requires diners to give up their right to have any legal claim against the restaurant heard in court. Instead, any case against Casa Bonita would have to be handled privately by an arbitrator — one whom Casa Bonita could hire themselves.
“YOU ARE GIVING UP THE RIGHT TO LITIGATE A DISPUTE IN COURT BEFORE A JUDGE OR JURY,” the clause reads in all caps, so as to attract the eyes of skimmers who would likely agree to become one-third of a Human CentiPad if faced with lowercase letters. While the arbitration clause is an increasingly common tactic used by companies that want to further insulate themselves from consequences should a customer turn litigious, there’s something seriously sinister about a restaurant putting such a phrase in their terms and conditions. Hell, a restaurant even having a 7,000-word contract that it requires all customers to sign before scarfing down refried beans and sopapillas is slightly suspect.
“The reality is you’re giving up a very important right, and you don’t know it,” 9NEWS legal expert Whitney Traylor opined of the Casa Bonita customer contract, estimating, “I would assume 95 percent of the people who sign have no idea that they’ve given up their right to a jury trial.”
Even that number might be a bit generous on the side of the customer, as Traylor noted of the arbitration clause, “It’s deep down in the document. You don’t really have any power to go back and forth and negotiate. It is in legalese. It’s sort of a take it or leave it (situation).”
Of course, Parker, Stone and Casa Bonita aren’t exactly forcing anyone to eat at the restaurant, especially considering that the previous waitlist for the soft opening listed over 600,000 potential guests. However, the small sliver of the South Park fandom that favors reading might choose to skip their trip to Casa Bonita — and that might be the exact population whom Parker and Stone are trying to trap.
