Judge Rejects Disney’s Dismissal Request in Development Lawsuit

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Disney’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the validity of a development agreement has been rejected, according to a Florida judge.

What is the latest between Disney vs. Florida?

According to 9th Judicial Circuit judge Margaret Schreiber on Friday (via The Hollywood Reporter), Disney’s argument that the lawsuit was made invalid by state law was not accepted. “Because this case is not moot and a stay is not proper, the Court hereby denies Disney’s Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, to Stay this Action,” wrote Schreiber in her decision.

Disney had originally been trying to claim that the court doesn’t have the authority to decide whether or not any deals Disney had made were valid or not. “Under the Florida Constitution, trial courts have no power to issue opinions that are at best advisory and lack any real-world effect on the parties’ rights,” Daniel Petrocelli, a lawyer for Disney, wrote.

The original lawsuit was filed in May in the state court covering Florida’s Orange and Osceola counties by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. In it, the oversight board (which was hand-picked by Florida governor Ron DeSantis according to reports) claims that Disney had putting together various “eleventh-hour deals” in order to illicitly keep powers that gave it control over development on the land surrounding the massive Walt Disney World.

The suit itself came after Disney filed a lawsuit in Florida alleging that DeSantis was going after the company in a form of political retaliation after Disney’s opposition to the colloquially named “Don’t Say Gay” law.

“Today’s decision has no bearing on our lawsuit in federal court to vindicate Disney’s constitutional rights, and we are fully confident Disney will prevail in both the federal and state cases,” said a Disney spokesperson in a statement.

According to THR’s report, Disney will move to have the case paused if it isn’t dismissed in the future.

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