Disney sues DeSantis over alleged ‘campaign to weaponize government power’ against company
Jack Birle
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Disney has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and members of the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District alleging government power has been weaponized against them.
In the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, the company alleges a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials.”
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Disney argues the state and DeSantis have violated its First Amendment right to speech by working to strip control of the its special taxing district encompassing the Walt Disney World Resort from the company, after Disney spoke out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill.
The lawsuit was filed shortly after the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District unanimously approved a resolution to declare an agreement designed to undercut the new board’s power as void. Disney cites the action as the “latest strike” in the state’s string of “retaliatory” and “unconstitutional” actions.
“Today’s action is the latest strike: At the Governor’s bidding, the State’s oversight board has purported to ‘void’ publicly noticed and duly agreed development contracts, which had laid the foundation for billions of Disney’s investment dollars and thousands of jobs,” according to the lawsuit. “This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional.”
The lawsuit also argues that the state violated the Contracts Clause in the U.S. Constitution by working to void an agreement Disney made with the previous board, which undercut the power of the new DeSantis-appointed district board. Lawyers for Disney also say the state violated the Takings Clause in the U.S. Constitution, by allegedly taking property rights from the company “without payment of just compensation.”
The fifth cause of action Disney makes in the lawsuit accuses the state of violating the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, by arbitrating “the Contracts without any rational basis and for only impermissible reasons.”
The board had cited violations of necessary procedures outlined in the state’s sunshine laws as reason to declare the agreement as void.
The battle between DeSantis and the company, which began last year, stemmed from Disney denouncing DeSantis’s push for the Parental Rights in Education Act.
“Governor DeSantis and his allies paid no mind to the governing structure that facilitated Reedy Creek’s successful development until one year ago, when the Governor decided to target Disney,” lawyers for Disney argued. “There is no room for disagreement about what happened here: Disney expressed its opinion on state legislation and was then punished by the State for doing so.”
DeSantis’s office called the lawsuit “yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters” and added it was “unaware of any legal right” for a company to hold on to “special privileges.”
“We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state,” Taryn Fenske, communications director for the governor, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law.”
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Disney is seeking to have the two laws restructuring the former Reedy Creek Improvement District declared as “unlawful and unenforceable,” along with legally upholding the agreement between Disney and the former district made on Feb. 8, which stripped the new district of most of its power.
The entertainment giant had maintained full autonomy over the district since its creation in 1967, but legislation signed into law in February gave the state power over the district.