Disney sues DeSantis, dispute escalates
National Review senior political columnist Jim Geraghty and Fox News contributor Richard Fowler join Howard Kurtz to discuss the ongoing dispute between Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney as the company takes legal action to allegedly retaliatory policies.
The board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District announced Monday that it will sue Disney after the company filed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Disney filed a lawsuit against DeSantis last Wednesday, alleging the Republican orchestrated a “specific government retaliation campaign” against the company that violates Disney’s free speech rights.
Disney is challenging the legality of a new board appointed by DeSantis to govern the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, where the Walt Disney World resort is located.
“Disney sued us, now we have no choice but to respond,” Martin Garcia, president of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, said Monday, according to Politico. “The district will seek justice in state court here in Central Florida, where both it and Disney reside and do business.”
Disney has filed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). (AP/Maya Alleruzzo)
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The board met Monday morning and approved a motion to take legal action against Disney, which will be filed in state court.
Disney’s lawsuit against the governor, the board and its five members is asking a judge to void the governor’s takeover of the theme park district that Disney once controlled for 55 years. The oversight board’s lawsuit seeks to retain design and construction oversight in the district that governs the 25,000 acres of Disney World after the previous Disney-controlled board signed those powers over to the company before board members appointed by DeSantis held their first meeting earlier this year. .
Fox News Digital has reached out to Disney for comment.
Disney’s legal complaint was an escalation of a feud between DeSantis and the company that began last year when the company campaigned to overturn Florida’s Parents’ Rights to Education law, which Democrats have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
DeSantis responded by lobbying the Florida legislature to strip Disney of its self-governing authority and create a new board, filled with his appointees, that now has control over the development of the theme park.
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That board recently voted to void two development contracts Disney signed in February.
On Thursday of last week, a Florida court issued a subpoena against DeSantis in connection with the Disney lawsuit, while the governor was more than 6,000 miles away from the state on a trip to Israel.
The subpoena, addressed to the governor’s office in Tallahassee, was issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
“A lawsuit has been filed against you,” he says, adding that “[w]within 21 days after service of this summons on you (not counting the day you received it) … you must serve on the plaintiff an answer to the attached complaint or a motion pursuant to Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure”.
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DeSantis, in Jerusalem on Thursday, said “I don’t think the suit has merit.”
“They’re upset that they have to live by the same rules as everybody else. They don’t want to pay the same taxes as everybody else and they want to be able to control things without proper oversight,” DeSantis added. . “The days of putting a company on a pedestal without accountability are over in the state of Florida.”
Heather Lacy, Jessica Chasmar, Chris Pandolfo, Timothy HJ Nerozzi and Fox News’ Associated Press contributed to this report.
