We’ve been reporting here at PJ Media for months about the battle between Disney and the state of Florida over the state rescinding the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), the special agreement that gave The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) quasi-governmental control over Walt Disney World property and some of the surrounding area.
This spring, Disney filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis and the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD), claiming that the state overstepped its bounds in rescinding the RCID legislation from 1967, creating a new district, and establishing a new board to manage the affairs of the district.
The state has alleged that by filing a federal lawsuit, Disney is trying to involve the federal courts in state affairs, which makes sense because the suit essentially tries to get the federal government to override a state matter. Last month, the CFTOD filed a motion petitioning the court to abstain from or dismiss the suit. Less than a week later, the CFTOD asked the state court to rule in the board’s state case against Disney.
Now Disney has backtracked on most of the claims in the federal lawsuit and has refiled asserting only the First Amendment claims against DeSantis and the CFTOD board.
“The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, today, accepted Disney’s proposal to allow Disney to backtrack on key claims in their federal case. Last week, Disney asked the court to remove these key claims from their lawsuit,” announced CFTOD in a press release.
Related: Florida Tourism Board Member Reveals What’s REALLY Going on With the Disney Lawsuit
It’s actually the second time Disney has tried to refile the suit. Last week, Judge Allen Winsor dismissed a similar motion on technical grounds “because Disney’s lawyers did not follow legal procedure and forgot to ask the district’s permission to proceed.”
CNBC reports that Disney backed off on the other claims in the federal suit because the state case covers those claims as well. The CFTOD agrees with that assessment of the claims.
“We are pleased that Disney backtracked on these legal claims against the district in their federal case,” said district spokesman Alexei Woltornist in a statement. “Disney’s latest legal move puts them in line with the position of what the district has been advocating for months now: that these matters should be decided in state court. We hope this helps expedite justice for the people of Florida.”
The company promises to keep fighting against the state.
“We will continue to fight vigorously to defend these contracts because these agreements will determine whether or not Disney can invest billions of dollars and generate thousands of new jobs in Florida,” said TWDC in a statement.
So what happens next? Disney’s retaliation in the form of the federal lawsuit essentially relied on the state case reaching a resolution first, so the change in the federal case frees it up to proceed. We could see both cases reach their resolution more quickly — so stay tuned. We’ll keep our eyes on the latest developments and share them with you.
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