Disney Sued for $50,000 Over Wrong Drink Order
Frivolous lawsuits are a thing everywhere, especially with Disney.
Everybody knows that Disney has deep pockets and wants to get a taste.
Don’t get me wrong, though. Sometimes, Disney screws up and should pay for its mistakes.
In other instances, scammers are just trying to rip off Disney in hopes of making a quick buck.
Then, we have lawsuits like the one I’m about to discuss that are just…perplexing.
Let’s talk about the “I didn’t order that” lawsuit.
The Wrong Jellyrolls Drink Order
According to Florida Politics reporter Gabrielle Russon, a rather remarkable chain of events recently unfolded at Jellyrolls.
The beloved piano bar at Disney’s BoardWalk required a cover charge on the evening in question.
A Lakeland, Florida attorney named Greg Abaray took his wife and daughter to the club on the evening in question.
What happened next is a matter of much debate. However, it underscores just how ridiculous people can be about a beer.
Thanks to Russon’s exceptional reporting, we know both sides of this story, and it’s a doozy.
Here is the police report filed from the incident, and here are the details of the lawsuit the attorney filed afterward.
Based on these two statements alone, you may believe something dramatic happened at Jellyrolls.
Honestly, that’s not the case at all, although the particulars of the story are rather funny.
Apparently, two proud parents, Abaray and his wife, took their daughter to Jellyrolls to celebrate her recent birthday.
On the evening in question, the father ordered his daughter a drink, which has a name I won’t say on a Disney website.
Let’s just say it’s synonymous with something oral and leave it at that.
Why was a father selecting that drink for their daughter? Great question!
Anyway, the bartender misheard the order and returned with a Michelob Light.
So, everything else you’re about to read happened because two parties disputed who should pay for a Michelob Light.
The Dispute and the Police Report
Look, we all have stories we can tell about being out and about with friends where something absurd happened. This is one such tale.
Specifically, according to the lawyer’s legal filing, the husband and wife met their daughter and her friend at 11:30 p.m.
The father ordered a Red Bull because if you’re old enough to have a child of legal drinking age, 11:30 is getting pretty late for you.
Soon afterward, the bartender brought the Red Bull, the mother’s alcoholic beverage, and the Michelob Light.
So, they got two orders right and one wrong. The *ahem* oral specialty drink required mixing and wasn’t ready yet.
After the bartender handed the party the opened beer and the Red Bull, this server went back to make the other drink.
When the Jellyrolls worker returned, the family protested the beer, which they didn’t order and refused to pay for. They were willing to pay for the other drinks, though.
For their part, employees on duty at Jellyrolls argued that they couldn’t refund an opened beer, which is fair.
However, refusing to pay for a drink nobody ordered is equally fair.
Since we’re only talking about one beer, I guess we had to be there to understand why things grew so heated.
But let me tell you about what happened next. It got wild!
I guess the Red Bull really kicked in quickly, as the family aggressively protested the beer order, forcing a manager to get involved.
At this point, the customers – specifically, the wife – reportedly started getting physical with staff members.
According to the police report, one individual was “physical with employee, currently yelling at staff, known to touch cast members inappropriatly (sic).”
Based on this information, we may infer that the Jellyrolls staff isn’t willing to cancel beer orders for the wife in question.
The Lawsuit
As you might expect, a lawyer would want to defend his family’s honor to the full extent of the law when facing such allegations.
In a legal filing “for damages in excess of $50,000,” the attorney claims that a manager and bouncer intimidated his wife.
Specifically, the filing states that they “backed up Abaray’s wife up against a pillar and was yelling in her face (sic).”
Again, all this yelling happened over one beer at a place where they just paid a $36 cover.
Yes, this whole affair sounds classy.
As a life tip, I’d always recommend that you offer to buy a former bartender a meal/drink and ask them to tell you some stories. They have the best ones.
Anyway, when Abaray’s wife would only agree to pay for three beverages but not the beer, the manager at Jellyrolls asked her to leave.
According to the lawsuit, nobody had finished their drinks yet, which means that Disney had billed them for four drinks and a cover charge.
The family didn’t get to enjoy any of it, so they spent about $80, drank nothing, and wound up facing a police report.
Thus, they’re suing for $50,000, with the attorney noting, “You’re going lose a customer like this forever.”
You can almost hear the workers at Jellyrolls quivering in their boots.
To Russon’s credit, she summarizes the incident brilliantly.
“Abaray is suing Disney for assault, battery, negligence, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Disney does not own or operate Jellyrolls.”
So, yeah. They should have just paid for the beer.
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