Disney CEO Bob Iger, left, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Florida Gov. may say. Ron DeSantis that he has “moved on” from his long-standing feud with Disneybut the House of Mouse is not letting up.
Disney filed counterclaims, including a breach of contracts claim, against the board of supervisors chosen by DeSantis to oversee Walt Disney World’s special tax district, a court filing showed Thursday.
The company is seeking damages for the alleged infringement, as well as a court order for the district to comply with the development contracts at the heart of the legal battle between Disney and DeSantis.
Disney’s demands come in a 55-page filing denying the district board’s allegations in its state-level lawsuit against the entertainment giant. Disney’s filing also set forth 12 “affirmative defenses” against the board, including its lack of standing for its claims.
Spokesmen for the board and Disney did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Disney filed DeSantis and his handpicked board members in a related federal lawsuit accusing the governor of political retaliation after the company denounced the controversial classroom bill dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.
DeSantis and his allies targeted the special tax district, formerly known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which has allowed Florida’s Walt Disney World to manage its own operations since the 1960s. The governor effectively took over the district, replaced its five-member board with his favorites and renamed it the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, or CFTOD.
Before that board took office, Disney made development deals it says are intended to secure its investments in Florida “amid a climate of escalating retaliation” by the state government. The new board, which claimed the company had reneged on contracts to undermine its power, voted to void them, prompting Disney to sue.
Days later, the DeSantis board countersued in the 9th Judicial Circuit Court in Orange County, Florida, arguing that Disney did not have the authority to enter into the contracts and that the previous board had failed to provide proper notice that it was doing so. of these.
On Wednesday, the board asked a judge in the state case ruled in its favor without going to trial on five of its nine counts against Disney.
The tangled legal battle is playing out in two different courtrooms with no indication of ending anytime soon. Disney last month lost a bid to dismiss the case at the state level, and similar attempts by DeSantis and the CFTOD board to dismiss the federal case have yet to be ruled on.
But DeSantis, who is struggling to catch up with former President Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary race, has signaled that he wants the fight over.
In a CNBC interview on Monday, DeSantis urged Disney CEO Bob Iger to drop the lawsuit, saying the company “will lose” and adding that he and his allies “basically moved on.”
DeSantis, whose willingness to take drastic action on politically charged social issues helped him quickly rise to national prominence, has often voiced his fight with Disney on the campaign trail. He attacked the company for embracing issues he felt were “woke” and accused the company of sexualizing children — a claim Iger called “outrageous.”
