A board appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to supervise Disneyland’s Reedy Creek Enchancment District has filed a lawsuit in opposition to The Walt Disney Firm.
The Disney-DeSantis feud has been occurring for greater than a yr now, and this week’s countersuit is simply the newest in a back-and-forth battle that appears prone to proceed for months or years as DeSantis makes use of it to prop up a possible presidential run.
Context: Disney has, since 1967, loved a particular self-governing standing in Florida’s Reedy Creek Enchancment District. In February, DeSantis and the Florida legislature handed a invoice that allowed him to nominate the board in command of the district, basically stripping the corporate of these self-governing privileges. Disney then did some authorized maneuvering to strip the board of most of its authority earlier than DeSantis’ appointees have been positioned in cost. Disney has since sued DeSantis, and this week the neutered Reedy Creek board sued again.
Why is that this occurring now? In accordance with the governor-appointed board members, their determination to sue got here after The Walt Disney Firm filed its lawsuit in opposition to DeSantis and the Reedy Creek board. All 5 members accredited the countersuit.
What’s Disney being accused of? The 188-page lawsuit filed on Monday asks the ninth Judicial Circuit in Central Florida to nullify the loophole that Disney used to strip the board of its energy and keep management of the Reedy Creek district, claiming that it’s “riddled with procedural and substantive defects.” The lawsuit takes particular exception to an association Disney put in place with the earlier board that may have given the corporate management of Reedy Creek basically in perpetuity.
What’s DeSantis being accused of? Disney is arguing that DeSantis’ and his allies are engaged in “a focused marketing campaign of presidency retaliation” in opposition to the corporate that has been “orchestrated at each step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech.”
What does Disney imply by “focused marketing campaign”? Final month, as his polling numbers have been dropping quicker than the logs on Tiana’s Bayou Journey, DeSantis lashed out at Disney, threatening that the state was contemplating implementing elevated oversight of journey security, boosting evaluation valuations of its properties, and including tolls to the roads resulting in Disney’s resorts and theme parks. The governor additionally publicly steered {that a} new state jail is perhaps constructed on the 40 sq. miles of land that borders the resort and theme park.
What are they saying? Martin Garcia, chairman of the board for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, stated:
We’ve no alternative now however to reply. We are going to search justice in state court docket right here in central Florida the place each it and Disney do enterprise. Sure, we’ll search justice in our personal yard.
The Walt Disney Firm has not but commented on the board’s submitting, though sources are indicating the corporate was anticipating the countersuit.
