As the feud continues between Disney and Governor DeSantis, there is no shortage of controversy. The most recent has to do with documents that Disney has requested from the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District for a state lawsuit that is one of two lawsuits that could determine the future design and development decisions for the district.
Disney says that the district is dragging its feet on sharing documents. In a court filing on Thursday, Disney said that the district is “dodging its obligations.” Because of this Disney would like a Florida judge to delay a decision on whether the case should proceed until the company gets documents and is able to conduct depositions that are needed to argue against a summary judgement which is requested by the district. Currently a hearing is set for mid-December. Disney would like to seek a delay of two and a half months.
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District has “failed to produce a single document for nearly two months following Disney’s requests, broke commitments to agreed-upon deadlines, and remains in possession of discovery that Disney needs to develop its summary judgment opposition,” Disney said in court papers.
The district isn’t the only entity not providing papers. Disney is also seeking internal communications, including text messages, emails, and documents from the office of Governor DeSantis and also state agencies. “Productions to date have been nonexistent or woefully deficient,” Disney said in its court filing.
These filings are just the most recent spar between Disney against Governor DeSantis and his allies. This all started when Disney came out against legislation that Governor DeSantis was for. He soon was calling Disney “woke” and warning that “a new sheriff was in town.” This led to the dissolution of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District. It was eventually replaced by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. The new district has a board of directors that is appointed by the Florida Governor. Shortly before the new district came into being, Disney made development agreements with the former Reedy Creek Improvement District which gave Disney power to make design and development decisions for the foreseeable future.
Once the development agreements were discovered by the new district administration, efforts were made to nullify the agreements at the state and local level. This led to the first of two lawsuits. First, Disney sued Governor DeSantis, the board, and other Florida leaders in federal court. This was followed by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District suing Disney at the state level.
Daps Magic will continue to follow the developments for this story as they become available. What do you think of this newest update? Do you think that Disney should be getting these documents and other records? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
