Disney v. Ron DeSantis: United States District Judge imposes first deadlines in high-stakes lawsuit

Jun 02, 2023 in "Reedy Creek Improvement District"

Posted: Friday June 2, 2023 1:!2pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Judge Allen C Winsor, who has been presiding over the case for just one day after replacing Judge Mark Walker, has set initial deadlines for Disney's lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The deadlines relate to DeSantis filing motions to dismiss Disney's case and the subsequent responses by Disney. The timeline for this phase of the case is through to at least early August 2023.

Here are the deadlines filed today by Judge Winsor.

  • DeSantis' deadline to file motions to dismiss is 6/26/2023.
  • Rule 26 Meeting Report due by 6/27/2023.
  • Disney's deadline to respond to any motions to dismiss is 7/26/2023.
  • DeSantis may reply no later than 8/9/2023.

Original Judge Mark Walker, disqualified himself from the case yesterday due to a family member owning a small amount of stock in The Walt Disney Company. The case has now been assigned to 46 year old Orlando-born Republican Judge Allen C Winsor, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019.

Disney is suing DeSantis for what it says has been "a targeted campaign of government retaliation-orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney's protected speech-now threatens Disney's business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights."

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monothingie7 minutes ago

Huh? It reflects on the priorities of the leadership of the company. Bob, and everyone else not at room temperature, know that Peltz can't change anything at The Company. This whole PR exercise is about not making the CEO seem feckless and weak in the face of Peltz.

Disstevefan18 minutes ago

The point is, Iger only cares about his legacy, he does not care about the company. Iger already has enough money for multiple lifetimes like a vampire.

Cliff13 minutes ago

Damaging Iger's "ego" is in no way damaging to the company, it's business or it's employees.

monothingie36 minutes ago

The most important thing to Bob, above all else, is his ego and legacy. Publicly or privately exposing his shortfalls is a major threat to him.

Cliff38 minutes ago

Ok...but we as Disney fans believe that Iger and his board have done nothing wrong. Peltz will be under a Disney NDA. He cannot reveal business secrets to the public. However, NDA's are null and void against "illeagal" activities. Peltz MUST be a whistle blower to the SEC, IRS and DoJ in ONLY "these" cases. Again....as Disney fans, we ARE 100% sure that Disney has done nothing illeagle. Because of this....Peltz can't hurt Iger or Disney. Peltz is MASSIVELY outnumbered and is no threat to Iger's Board or his company. Let's all stop worrying...please?

monothingie41 minutes ago

I agree, Disney started putting feelers out for wanting to settle and tone this down at the end of 2023 and after the setbacks in the various court cases, they realized that it would be increasingly difficult to put things back to the way they were. I agree with you on the Governor, but I will add that it was likely not the State of Florida initiating settlement talks with Disney, but the other way around.

monothingie47 minutes ago

I think it's a stretch to say that they've done something illegal (but you never know). It's more likely that a dissonant board member or two will have access to information and actions that would be embarrassing for The Company and paint Bob and his fellow C-Suite occupants as incompetent, reckless, clueless, etc.

ParentsOf448 minutes ago

Based on public statements, Disney wanted to cool things off some time ago. But with DeSantis running for president, any deal would have been spun as a DeSantis loss by his opponents. Now that he’s no longer running and the national spotlight is no longer on him, I suspect DeSantis was willing to agree to the deal that Disney wanted to make all along. Disney wants profitable business growth in Florida. This agreement supports that.

monothingie50 minutes ago

Having these two geniuses in charge?

Sirwalterraleigh1 hour ago

Uh oh…BATTLESTATIONS!!!

Cliff1 hour ago

No,...I voted against the people that have already been destroying it for years. Besides,..he is just one man on a board of a dozen. If Disney has done nothing illegal on the board over the years, then Iger is free to IGNORE Peltz! Now,....If Disney "has" done illegal things?....then yes!!,...that one man will be a SEVERE problem when he sees that....and he WILL see it....and he won't try to cover it. The dude will snitch to the SEC, DoJ and IRS because he won't want to be complacent. If he sees things, he now has a legal, fiduciary responsibility to report them and anybody involved in them. I think we can all assume Disney is "clean" and they are free to ignore Peltz all they want. If Iger and his Board have done nothing wrong, then Peltz has little power to fix anything and life for Iger goes on as normal. Iger fans in this forum have nothing to fear from Peltz. He is just an extreme minority compared to Iger and his people.

lentesta2 hours ago

Don't get me started. My medication hasn't kicked in.

Sirwalterraleigh2 hours ago

He didn’t lose based on Disney Nobody struggles to get more than 10% to a circus other than on there own merits

Sirwalterraleigh2 hours ago

The press started digging and found that nobody likes him…If they had needed to dig deeper…it would have gotten much worse.