The ongoing war between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney is heading to court. Today, Disney and its army of lawyers filed a lawsuit against DeSantis and others over what it calls a “targeted campaign of government retaliation.” It’s the latest chapter in an ongoing war between the two.
On April 26, Disney filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Florida governor Ron DeSantis is directly named in the lawsuit as well as Merdieth Ivey, the Acting Secretary of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, and the DeSantis-appointed members of the Walt Disney World special district oversight board. This was the same board that discovered last month that Disney and its lawyers had legally stripped the committee of most of its power before its first meeting via a development agreement, angering DeSantis and his cronies.
The new lawsuit comes just after the Flordia governor’s appointed board—who are intended to oversee the previously-named Reedy Creek Special District—had voted unanimously earlier Wednesday in a public meeting to declare the Disney-approved agreement “void and unenforceable.” This appears to be the last straw for Disney and its legal team.
“Disney regrets that it has come to this,” said the company in the newly filed lawsuit. “But having exhausted efforts to seek a resolution, the Company is left with no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its cast members, guests, and local development partners from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials.”
This is a developing story.
