According to court minutes reviewed by BlogMickey.com, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District vs Disney trial will begin next month. Judge Margaret H. Schreiber granted a hearing time for Friday, July 14th at 2pm. The hearing will last up to one hour.
This case is a state-level case and was brought by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District against Disney Parks. The federal case is the one that Disney brought against DeSantis. The latest action in the federal case is that a judge recused himself and pre-trial deadlines were agreed to by all parties and the newly appointed judge.
Turning our attention back to the state-level case of interest in this article, the CFTOD argued that there were a variety of infirmities in a Development Contract made between Disney and the former Reedy Creek Improvement District Board of Supervisors. Because lawmakers didn’t dismantle the RCID, the contract rolled over to the CFTOD when DeSantis’ hand-picked Board of Supervisors assumed control over the Disney World special district.
The CFTOD argues that infirmities in the Development Agreement should render the contract null and void. The CFTOD is asking an Orange County judge to agree with them and asks the court to nullify a Development Agreement and Restrictive Covenants. Doing so would allow the CFTOD to develop land around Walt Disney World with little to no input from Disney. Previously, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has floated ideas such as building a third-party theme park or even a state prison on land immediately surrounding Walt Disney World.
In mid-May, Disney filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing, in part, that a state-level decision would be overridden by a federal decision. Disney noted that they filed their lawsuit against DeSantis and the CFTOD Board of Supervisors before the state-level case was filed, so they would have further precedent given the fact that both the federal and state-level lawsuits target the Development Agreement. As far as we can tell, Judge Schreiber has not ruled on Disney’s motion to dismiss.
Motion to Dismiss
CFTOD Lawsuit Against Disney Parks
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