On Monday evening Republican governor Ron DeSantis of Florida filed a motion in Federal Court to dismiss the lawsuit against them filed by the Walt Disney World.
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
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The lawsuit by Disney accuses Governor DeSantis and his office for being engaged in “a targeted campaign of government retaliation” against Disney that was “orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech.” The bicker between Disney and DeSantis began in 2021 when Disney said that it would repeal a law that severely limits how and when LGBTQ+ topics were taught in public schools.
Attorneys of the governor filed a 27 page motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds of lacking jurisdiction. Rather than in state court, it filed the lawsuit in the US District Court in the Northern District of Florida, which is located in Tallahassee.
About Governor
DeSantis is Donald Trump’s biggest rival for the upcoming 2024 Republican nomination for the President, though the former President remains a frontrunner.
The governor took measures along with the legislature which would take away special prerogative Disney had in Florida for decades. The kind which other theme parks doesn’t enjoy and it saves resort and theme park a fortune while talking about the building and operations. He reinstate his own appointees in lieu of Disney-friendly board to oversee the district.
The governor also hovered the idea of building a state prison on the bordering land, increasing taxes,introducing more regulations, building affordable workforce housing and exploring the sale of distinct-owned utilities.
About the case
“Disney lacks standing to sue the Governor and Secretary, who are also immune from suit,” they argued in a filing in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee. The case was initially assigned to Mark Walker, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama and previously blocked a DeSantis-backed law that restricted how workplaces instituted diversity, equity, and inclusion training. He recused himself from the case, saying a distant relative had Disney stock. In an April interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph, DeSantis accused Disney “Forum Shopping” for a judge “who rules against us all the time” because the entertainment company didn’t file its lawsuit in state court.
Now, the case is before Winsor, who was solicitor general of Florida under former state Attorney General Pam Bondi, one of Trump’s lawyers during his first impeachment trial.
Attorneys for the board, formally known as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board, filed a separate motion saying the federal case should be dismissed or go on hold until the counter-lawsuit the board filed in state court is resolved.
