Disney asks court to dismiss DeSantis board lawsuit as ruling would be ‘pointless’
Jack Birle
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Disney has filed a motion to dismiss at lawsuit filed by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board in state court in Florida.
In the filing, Disney alleges that a land use bill, which Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed earlier this month, makes the lawsuit “moot,” per court documents obtained by Deadline.
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“A ruling in CFTOD’s favor would be pointless, and a ruling in Disney’s favor would be meaningless,” lawyers for Disney said in the filing. “Under the Florida Constitution, trial courts have no power to issue opinions that are at best advisory and lack any real-world effect on the parties’ rights. The case should be dismissed as moot.”
The land use bill, SB 1604, included a provision to allow “an independent special district” to be “precluded from complying” with agreements made in the three months before the modifying of laws on how the governing body selects members. It also allows the new governing body to vote on readopting the agreements within four months of taking power.
The law was part of DeSantis’s promised “strong one-two punch” to nullify an agreement the previous board of the central Florida district entered with Disney, which undercut the power of the DeSantis-appointed board. The other part of the strategy included the board declaring the agreement void based on one of the “legal infirmities” in the accord.
Shortly after the board declared the agreement void, Disney filed a lawsuit in federal court arguing DeSantis and other officials had engaged in a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials.”
After the land use bill was signed into law, Disney added to new legislation to its federal lawsuit.
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