Florida Governor DeSantis requests trial delay in Disney case until after the presidential election

Jun 28, 2023 in "Reedy Creek Improvement District"

Posted: Wednesday June 28, 2023 11:18am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The court schedule for Disney's federal lawsuit against Ron DeSantis has been released, with details on proposed trial dates from both parties.

Disney is asking for a July 2024 court date, with DeSantis defendants asking for it to begin in August 2025, after the November 2024 presidential election.

Disney's federal April 26, 2023 lawsuit was filed in response to Governor DeSantis' attempts to replace the Reedy Creek Improvement District with his own hand-picked board. Disney's lawsuit says that DeSantis' actions violated its First Amendment and other constitutional rights, alleging they were motivated by retaliation due to the company's opposition to the so-called "don't say gay" law related to parental rights in schools.

In addition to the trail date proposals, the schedule also reveals other key dates: 

Plaintiff proposes the following schedule:

  • Fact discovery completed by January 15, 2024.
  • Expert disclosures made no later than January 15, 2024, and expert discovery completed by March 15, 2024.
  • Summary Judgment and Motions for Judgment on the Pleadings shall be due April 1, 2024.

Defendant proposes the following schedule: 

  • Fact discovery completed by January 3, 2025.
  • Expert disclosures made no later than January 3, 2025, and expert discovery completed by March 14, 2025.
  • Summary Judgment due by April 1, 2025.
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EeyoreFan#241 day ago

Back to just maintaining (insert dramatic pause)……“roads and basic infrastructure.”

lazyboy97o2 days ago

Just because they’re currently rubber stamping doesn’t make it any less corrupt.

MisterPenguin2 days ago

Well, there you go. A denial by the Board. Can we have our perks back? -Firefighters et. al No. -Board.

Dranth2 days ago

WHAT? You mean he wasn't being honest? How can I go on knowing he was full of it?

Chi842 days ago

Good luck with that.

Dranth2 days ago

Personally I am still waiting for Universals special district to have the Governor appoint members instead of them all being Universal employees. Wouldn't want him to be a hypocrite for going against everything he said about RCID right before the new one for Uni was approved. I'm sure he has just been busy and he will call a special session and get it done any day now!

castlecake2.02 days ago

I read it and have also attended several district meetings. The original batch he chose were all trying to prove a point while the newer appointees are more focused on actual gouvernement business

Disstevefan12 days ago

The worst thing I remember was CFTOD took away perks employees had when it was RCID.

MR.Dis2 days ago

Could some one please remind me of any request that Disney has made that the board has denied, as far as I know there has not been one request denied. So no real effect on how WDW has been run since the change. The only pain Disney has had in the past several years if the constant over evaluations by County Assessor office of WDW properties. From what I have read, every single challenge Disney has made has been upheld. Yet the Assessor office continues with their crusade to make Disney pay more. Just to remind everyone Disney is already the single biggest tax payer in the county.

Chi842 days ago

It’s not because there’s no reason for him to pretend to hate Disney now.

wdw71fan2 days ago

I'm guessing you didn't read the entire article. Two brand new Desantis appointees are on the board now. Business as usual.

castlecake2.02 days ago

Good riddance, now hopefully the district can get back to actually doing their job

DCBaker2 days ago

According to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District website, Brian Aungst Jr. and Bridget Ziegler are no longer listed as current members of the Board of Supervisors. Their spots have been filled by Matt Ravenscroft and David Woods, who were recently appointed by Governor DeSantis.

UNCgolf9 days ago

I'm sure a few do, but it's very uncommon. As an attorney, I don't know anyone that works at a non-PI firm that does public advertising like bus, TV, or billboard ads. I think business journals are a bit different and you're probably more likely to see something there if they handle something specific to that field, but I still think that's relatively rare.

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