ORLANDO, Florida (LifeSiteNews) — Far-left entertainment giant Disney dropped all but one of its claims against the state of Florida over Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ revocation of longstanding special privileges for the company’s Sunshine State resort in what supporters of the governor and 2024 presidential contender are calling another win.
Fox Business reported that the Walt Disney Company moved to withdraw four of its five complaints against DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) concerning the validity of contracts that were voided by the new oversight board but made before DeSantis instituted it to replace the Reedy Creek Improvement District through which Disney had effectively governed itself for decades.
Those claims are “being actively litigated in the pending state court action” in a suit brought by CFTOD, which Disney unsuccessfully tried to have dismissed, so the “federal case will therefore address only the current Fifth Cause of Action, not at issue in the state court case: Disney’s First Amendment challenge to the retaliatory reconstitution of the Reedy Creek Improvement District,” according to Disney’s filing.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor initially rejected the motion on procedural grounds but said that Disney could refile “after conferring with Defendants and otherwise complying with the Local Rules.”
“We are pleased that Disney backtracked on these legal claims against the district in their federal case,” said CFTOD spokesman Alexei Woltornist. “Disney’s latest legal move puts them in line with the position of what the district has been advocating for months now: that these matters should be decided in state court. We hope this helps expedite justice for the people of Florida.”
3. Under Hubbard, “when a statute is facially
constitutional, a plaintiff cannot bring a free-speech
challenge by claiming that the lawmakers
who passed it acted with a constitutionally
impermissible purpose.”— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) September 7, 2023
5. Put simply, Disney got outlawyered here by DeSantis’s team. The people who told you it had a slam-dunk federal case have some egg on their faces right now.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) September 7, 2023
Disney, which for years has been infusing its mainstream children’s and family entertainment offerings with pro-LGBT messages and other left-wing themes, took a hardline stance in March 2022 against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, which bans schools from teaching children in kindergarten through third grade about transgenderism and other sexuality-related issues, limits discussions of sexuality for older children to “age appropriate” content, and requires parents to be informed of any changes that could affect their child’s physical, emotional, or mental well-being.
The ordeal backfired on the company, with the law passing (and later being expanded to all grade levels) despite Disney’s efforts, and DeSantis going on to eliminate the self-governing “special district” status for Disney’s Florida theme park, which exempted it from various state regulations and conferred other financial benefits. The move ended Disney’s exemptions from the Florida Building Code and Florida Fire Prevention Code and from various state regulatory reviews and approvals, imposed new transparency requirements, ended its tax advantages, and made it liable for its own municipal debt.
Last month, the DeSantis-appointed CFTOD voted to abolish the previous district’s Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DEI) committee and associated programs, including any jobs associated with it and programs to award contracts on the basis of racial and gender metrics.