Quotes from Disney's lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

Apr 26, 2023 in "The Walt Disney Company"

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Posted: Wednesday April 26, 2023 1:00pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Walt Disney Company's 77-page lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his entire Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board contains a full history of the dispute between the entertainment giant and the state of Florida, and is the first time we have heard it in detail from Disney's perspective.

It is a compelling read and provides great insight into Disney's thinking over the past couple of years in dealing with an ever-increasing hostile Florida Governor. If you don't have time to read the entire filing, here are some of the notable points as presented by Disney.

"Disney expressed its opinion on state legislation and was then punished by the State for doing so."

"State leaders have not been subtle about their reasons for government intervention. They have proudly declared that Disney deserves this fate because of what Disney said. This is as clear a case of retaliation as this Court is ever likely to see."

"Disney now is forced to defend itself against a State weaponizing its power to inflict political punishment."

"In America, the government cannot punish you for speaking your mind."

"On March 30, State Representative Spencer Roach disclosed for the first time that the Legislature was considering dissolving RCID and announced, 'If Disney wants to embrace woke ideology, it seems fitting that they should be regulated by Orange County.' Governor DeSantis had been orchestrating the move behind the scenes. As he recounts it in his memoir, "I needed to be sure that the Legislature would be willing to tackle the potentially thorny issue involving the state's most powerful company. I asked the House Speaker, Chris Sprowls, if he would be willing to do it, and Chris was interested. 'OK, here's the deal,' I told him. 'We need to work on this in a very tight circle, and there can be no leaks. We need the element of surprise—nobody can see this coming.'"

"House Bill 9B, like Senate Bill 4C, was a law designed to target Disney and Disney alone. It shifted the power to select the District's board from the District's landowners, including its majority landowner, Disney, to the Governor—to enable him to punish Disney for its protected speech about House Bill 1557. In comments to reporters on February 8, 2023, Governor DeSantis said of House Bill 9B: 'There's a new sheriff in town and that's just the way it's going to be.'"

"Having exhausted all other options, Disney is left with no choice but to bring this complaint asking the Court to stop the State of Florida from weaponizing the power of government to punish private business."

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peter1143512 minutes ago

I see you didn’t answer but I’ll ask again. What “major mistake” did Disney make. I’m not asking you to restate all of the issues with everything that happened… just what major mistake Disney made. That should be easy right?

mmascari18 minutes ago

Presumably, it was cheaper. Since Disney was paying the costs for both sides. Disney finding some type of agreement satisfactory enough to resolve the issue for them is not the same as Disney agreeing that they were wrong about anything. Not the same as Disney saying they couldn't win more. It simply Disney saying this solution is "good enough". Not "good", "not preferred", not a "win" or "loss", just "good enough". In fact, didn't they explicitly state if the agreement isn't good enough, they reserve the right to continue to fight it. That's all it tells us. There's no greater meaning in this resolution with insight about any additional details.

MR.Dis25 minutes ago

Once again we see personal biases. So if Disney was so blameless, why did they give in to a compromise. Most on this forum stated it was a slam dunk win in both State and Federal Court. Hold on, Disney totally threw in the towel at the State level and has put on hold their Federal Case. Does that sound like a party that was totally right. Yes, most keep bringing up the same issues regarding how Disney was targeted in this forum, but there are those who tried to be more balanced and stated what Disney did wrong. I am not going down the path and restating all the issues, again there 1254 pages that go thru all the issues. What I suggest is to not just read those posts that agree with your opinions, but read the posts that are contrary--that is the only way you will truly see why a compromise was the only way to go.

peter114351 hour ago

Can you explain what “major mistake” Disney made?

Dranth1 hour ago

You may want to reread those 1254 pages because you seem to not be grasping the basics. One side did nothing wrong and then was targeted for opportunistic political gain for doing something we are all afforded the opportunity to do without Government reprisal. The Government, you know, the entity specially called out as not allowed to punish for political speech, came out and publicly announced to anyone who would listen they were punishing Disney for political speech. Doesn't sound very nuanced and certainly doesn't sound like the ridiculous claim that both sides were wrong. Bottom line, there has been one wrong side this entire time and there is still one wrong side today despite the compromise that itself only exists because it was no longer politically convenient to continue the fight for the state and as a business, Disney can't continue to fight indefinitely. None of that makes what happened okay.

James Alucobond1 hour ago

A boneheaded PR move should not result in legislative retaliation. Saying they both did something wrong ignores the fact that the wrongs are not proportional in the slightest and that one should never follow the other if we actually believe in our values and the rule of law.

MR.Dis2 hours ago

Once everyone puts aside their personal biases and looks at this objectively can see both sides of this issue made major mistakes. That is why we have the compromise that now stands. This is not a one side was all right while the other side was all wrong. Way more nuanced than that, and if you do not believe me there are 1254 pages of this forum you can review.

Dranth2 hours ago

Cry like a spoiled child? Right. So, you do nothing wrong, the government steps in and alters they agreement THEY WILLING joined in using questionable tactics, disregarding their own procedures they setup and you should sit there and take it? Is that is how you deal with things in your own life or does this only apply to others?

MR.Dis2 hours ago

What part is bull?? That Disney misjudged that the state would step in??? No one has ever said they did not have the legal right to do so.

lazyboy97o2 hours ago

This is bull, which you know. State law very clearly allows for districts controlled by land ownership. Other such districts don’t even need people living there.

MR.Dis2 hours ago

Correct. Absolutely have the right to decide who lives on their property. However you know and I know that this is not the point. If you hand pick who lives in a special district, than you cannot cry like a spoiled child when the State steps in to hand pick the members of the board. Disney, I am sure knew this was a losing argument. There are so many nuances to what happened, but as I have stated several times cooler heads prevailed and there is now a frame work for the CFTOD to do the boring work on managing the district.

peter114356 hours ago

What places are like that? What places don’t get to vote for their mayors, council, and governors? It is not distorting the situation at all.

Disstevefan16 hours ago

Well, yea, RCID did need “residents” and TWDC did own the land so, yea I guess they should hand pick the residents. As for the other businesses within the district, whatever. I was never for dissolving RCID. I benefited from RCID because I had a family member that worked for RCID and the perks he got seemed BETTER than cast member perks. TWDC was at the right place at the right time and central Florida would not be what it is today without TWDC and RCID, but we all must know that RCID was an extension of TWDC; and RCID was controlled by TWDC and to be honest they did a good job. The parks, roads, infrastructure was perfectly safe. I worried CFTOD would get in the way and would slow down anything being done at WDW. I think there is no worry about that so far. Disney works slow enough as it is.