FL Governor Ron DeSantis urged Disney CEO, Bob Iger (pictured), to drop lawsuit – Courtesy: Shutterstock — Kathy Hutchins
Disney’s lawsuit against Governor Ron DeSantis over the loss of a long-standing planning district was dismissed by a district court judge in Florida on Wednesday. The judge determined that Disney lacked standing to file the complaint.
Disney’s claims of harm stemming from the nomination of board members to a new district established by Florida legislature, according to Judge Allen Winsor of the Northern District Court of Florida, were “in the past.”
According to the judgment, Disney also failed to provide evidence of harm from particular measures the new board has taken or plans to take as a result of the governor’s purported authority over it.
“In fact, Disney has not alleged any specific injury from any board action,” Winsor said.
Then-President Donald Trump nominated Winsor in 2018, and he was sworn in the following year.
Following the decision, a Disney representative issued the following statement:
“This is an important case with serious implications for the rule of law, and it will not end here. If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with. We are determined to press forward with our case.”
The fight over a statute that restricted discussion of gender and sexuality in schools and was signed into law by DeSantis in the summer of 2022 is what gave rise to the lawsuit. Opponents dubbed the bill the “Don’t Say Gay” bill since it limited the teaching of those subjects to third grade and up.
After Disney employees voiced their objection to the law on social media, former CEO Bob Chapek came out against it.
In response, state legislators in Florida started moving to dissolve the planning region that Disney had de facto control over since the late 1960s, which was known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District at the time. The firm was able to alter the buildings and surrounding infrastructure at Walt Disney World because of this control.
Disney’s authority over Reedy Creek was essentially taken away by the legislature in February 2023 when they renamed it the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and appointed five DeSantis-backed officials to a newly formed board.
Disney then filed a lawsuit, alleging that Reedy Creek’s dissolution was the result of retaliation by DeSantis and the legislature, in violation of the company’s First Amendment rights. Disney claimed in a different complaint that the new Oversight District was not appropriately preserving records.
A report by the Associated Press in December stated that since the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s takeover, roughly 50 out of approximately 370 staff had departed, “raising concerns that decades of institutional knowledge are departing with them, along with a reputation for a well-run government.”
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Chris began his writing as a hobby while attending Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Today he and his wife live in the Orlando area with their three children and dog.
