Disney CEO Bob Iger, left, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may say he’s “moved on” from his long-running feud with Disney, however the House of Mouse is not easing up.
Disney has filed counterclaims, including a breach of contracts claim, against the board of supervisors picked by DeSantis to oversee Walt Disney World’s special tax district, a Thursday court filing shows.
The corporate seeks damages over the alleged breach, in addition to a court order for the district to comply with development contracts which can be at the center of the legal fight between Disney and DeSantis.
Disney’s requests got here in a 55-page filing denying the district board’s allegations in its state-level lawsuit against the entertainment giant. Disney’s filing also recommend 12 “affirmative defenses” against the board, including that it lacks standing for its claims.
Spokespeople for the board and Disney didn’t immediately reply to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Disney is suing DeSantis and his hand-picked board members in a related federal lawsuit accusing the governor of political retaliation after the corporate denounced the controversial classroom bill dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.
DeSantis and his allies targeted the special tax district, formerly called the Reedy Creek Improvement District, that has allowed Florida’s Walt Disney World to self-govern its operations for the reason that Sixties. The governor effectively took over the district, replacing its five-member board along with his preferred picks and changing its name to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, or CFTOD.
Before that board took charge, Disney crafted development deals that it says were intended to secure its investments in Florida “amid a climate of escalating retaliation” by the state government. The brand new board, claiming that the corporate snuck the contracts through to undermine its power, voted to nullify them, prompting Disney to sue.
Days later, the DeSantis board countersued within the ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Orange County, Florida, arguing that Disney lacked authority to enter into the contracts and that the prior board failed to offer proper notice that it was crafting them.
On Wednesday, the board asked a judge within the state case to rule in its favor without going to trial on five of its nine counts against Disney.
The knotty 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 state-level case, and similar attempts by DeSantis and the CFTOD board to dismiss the federal case have yet to be ruled on.
But DeSantis, who’s struggling to meet up with former President Donald Trump within the Republican presidential primary race, has signaled he wants the fight to finish.
In a CNBC interview Monday, DeSantis urged Disney CEO Bob Iger to drop the lawsuit, claiming that the corporate is “going to lose” and adding that he and his allies have “mainly moved on.”
DeSantis, whose willingness to take drastic motion on politically charged social issues helped him rapidly rise to national prominence, has often brought up his fight with Disney on the campaign trail. He has attacked the corporate for embracing issues he deems “woke” and has accused the corporate of sexualizing children — a claim Iger has called “preposterous.”
