Florida Governor Ron DeSantis asks court to dismiss Disney's Lawsuit

Jun 26, 2023 in "The Walt Disney Company"

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Walt Disney Company headquarters in Burbank, California

Posted: Monday June 26, 2023 5:30pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has filed a motion asking the court to dismiss Disney's lawsuit against him.

In the motion, DeSantis says, "The Court should dismiss the amended complaint, or at minimum, dismiss all claims against the State Defendants."

DeSantis claims, "Its last-ditch power grab having been foiled under state law, Disney now turns to federal constitutional law to sue the Governor, the Secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the CFTOD Board, and CFTOD’s Administrator. Its claims are meritless for many reasons, not least of which is that a special district cannot bind the State to transfer a portion of its sovereign authority to a private entity."

You can read the full 27 page motion here.

Disney claims in its lawsuit filed in a federal court that there 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."

The Walt Disney Company has filed a federal lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

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Disstevefan118 days ago

I think King better describers the power TWDC has in central Florida in my opinion.

GimpYancIent19 days ago

King? No. More a Celebrity, an "A" lister.

Mr. Sullivan19 days ago

I don’t know, things are going pretty well here at the moment

Dranth19 days ago

It certainly doesn't work here in the US with how our system is setup, but in democracies that have say a parliamentary system where you have lots of small parties that are forced to compromise and work together to win control/pass laws/etc. it can work pretty well.

Disstevefan119 days ago

Disney will do what Disney will do. They are free to cancel, scope cut, pause, delay projects or slow walk projects through fiscal quarter after fiscal quarter with no explanation. Disney is King in central Florida. They will never lose that power.

co1006420 days ago

It’s obvious that the gap in the parks’ development cycle was multi-faceted: • Lingering consequences from COVID • Prioritizing making streaming profitable • Shake ups in WDI • Change in CEO/ousting of Bob Chapek • Conflicts and uncertainty with the new district Not saying anything that went down with the district takeover was right, but I truly believe we’d still have seen a development gap without it.

Nevermore52520 days ago

Yep, which is what the re-formed district wanted to be until they realized they were hamstrung from doing so.

peter1143520 days ago

A hostile district would have been problematic for the DAK and DHS projects as well.

Tha Realest20 days ago

I never said anyone lied under oath. The OP mentioned the RCID brouhaha was to blame for “WDW not adding more attractions” (not just MK). Not “penny pinching,” or a CEO shakeup, or COVID. Here’s their quote: All this reveals that all those 'annoyed' by WDW not adding more attractions during that time period should turn their annoyance at the governor's attack on the RCID which put expansions on hold, rather than railing on Disney's supposed penny-pinching. His statement was not limited to MK, or an MK expansion. My responses to him and you addressed this comment on those terms. I’ve offered plenty of examples of other parks where old attractions were cancelled pre-RCID, or where “remodel” occurred in other parks which wouldn’t have needed the extensive water credits you mentioned.

OG Runner20 days ago

To think some people say you can't read sarcasm.:D

LAKid5320 days ago

👍🏻 Because the LAST thing a company wants when suing the government is for your executives to commit perjury.

Stripes20 days ago

To be clear, even though they have zero reason to lie at all, you’re saying that Disney executives lied under oath about delaying the Magic Kingdom project due to the uncertainty caused by the CFTOD board? And your basis for this assertion is that they cut the budget for one project and therefore must have cancelled another entirely separate project with completely different financial justifications? Okay…

Disney Analyst20 days ago

Parties debate, talk, and work together to table legislation that appeases all sides through compromise. Yes, some legislation may not get passed if they can’t agree, and sometimes the impasse becomes big enough to force an election. But that’s actually the point. Nothing rammed through unilaterally, no sweeping changes that get reversed the moment power shifts.