The conflict between Mr. DeSantis and Disney has become a national spectacle, in part because he is a leading Republican presidential contender (although he has not officially declared a bid). He has drawn criticism from potential presidential rivals for his relentlessness against Disney. “This is all so unnecessary, a political STUNT,” former President Donald J. Trump wrote last week on Truth Social, his social media site.
Daniel M. Petrocelli, a high-powered Los Angeles litigator, filed the lawsuit in Tallahassee on Disney’s behalf. Mr. Petrocelli was the lawyer Mr. Trump turned to in 2016 when dealing with a class-action fraud case against the defunct Trump University.
Disney’s case was assigned to Mark E. Walker, chief judge for the Northern District of Florida. Judge Walker, known for stinging rulings and appointed by President Barack Obama, has experience with First Amendment cases. Last year, he handed a victory to University of Florida professors, saying they could not be barred from providing expert testimony in lawsuits against the state.
“Disney regrets that it has come to this,” the complaint said. “The company sought to de-escalate the matter for nearly a year, trying several times to spark a productive dialogue with the DeSantis administration. But having exhausted efforts to seek a resolution, the company is left with no choice.”
Disney filed its complaint minutes after a board appointed by Mr. DeSantis to oversee Disney World nullified two agreements that gave Disney vast control over expansion at the resort complex. The appointees voided the agreements after the board’s general counsel, Daniel Langley, presented evidence of what he called “self-dealing” and “procedural unconscionability” by Disney in pushing them through this year. Mr. Langley said Disney had violated Florida law in multiple ways, including by failing to fully notify the public of the actions it took.
One of the agreements gives Disney the ability to build 14,000 additional hotel rooms, a fifth theme park and three smaller parks. The other restricts the use of abutting land; no strip clubs, for instance. (Disney World already has four theme parks, two water parks, 18 Disney-owned hotels, a shopping mall and a 220-acre sports complex.)
Disney’s lawsuit called the board’s action “patently retaliatory, patently anti-business and patently unconstitutional.” Disney has repeatedly described the agreements as “appropriate” and struck in public meetings advertised in The Orlando Sentinel.
Source link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/business/disney-desantis-board-florida.html