The ongoing saga of The Walt Disney Company versus Ron DeSantis and his hapless oversight board continues.
In the Florida governor’s latest attempt to exert his power against Disney and its theme parks for standing against his “Don’t Say Gay” law (among other violations against the civil rights of Florida’s marginalized people and allies), he’s asking for current litigation to be dismissed. In a report detailed by Deadline, the governor is reckoning with Disney’s counterclaims against the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Its legal team struck back in a filing within the state court of Orange County, FL, writing that the agreements were “null and void under state law,” in a ‘pretty please’ desperate attempt to get the courts to side with them over a legitimate agreement.
That agreement being the sly move Disney slipped in at the 11th hour to protect its control over development on their theme park area under the “Royal Lives” clause. The unbelievable but true rule that Disney presented publicly with press states that the clause “provides that a certain right must be exercised within the lifetime plus 21 years of the last living descendant of a British monarch who was alive when the contract was made. The rule generally affects two types of transactions, namely trusts, and options to acquire property,” as defined by U.S.Legal.com. It doesn’t cover royal children not yet born, so Disney is protected by Prince Harry’s daughter Princess Lilibet—currently two years old—until 21 years after her passing, to back up their claim that DeSantis and his board had repeatedly violated their First Amendment rights. “The [DeSantis-appointed] district’s retaliatory interference with the contracts, via the legislative declaration and its predicates, has chilled and continues to chill Disney’s protected speech,” the company’s legal team asserted on firm ground.
It hasn’t stopped DeSantis from public embarrassment by letting this charade continue and trying to invalidate the development agreements that Disney was smart to pull. To get the courts on their side, the Central Florida district’s legal team noted that Disney has never previously attempted an agreement like this before. “To start,” they wrote, “a development agreement for Walt Disney World is most unusual, because there have been development activities in the area for more than 55 years without any development agreement.”
Disney didn’t previously need to do it before now, but they but had the right to do it. And being clueless pricks, DeSantis and his team didn’t fully know what they were up against.
Keep up with io9 for more updates on Disney vs. DeSantis.
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