2The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) board of supervisors appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis has made it clear that it’s not interested in providing the Walt Disney Company with any further evidence.
The legal battle between DeSantis, the CFTOD, and the Walt Disney World Resort has been boiling for nearly a year now, with the board being repeatedly accused of purposefully dragging its feet to provide necessary documents to the iconic media company. Now, the board is firing back in a new filing and says that it does not intend to provide any more documents, that they are irrelevant and/or privileged, and that the lawsuit simply “is what it is.”
Related: DeSantis Blames Mainstream Media for Losing Presidential Campaign, Disney War
In its previous motion, Disney claimed that it requires further documents to “fairly defend itself against the District’s claims and advance its counterclaims.” The CFTOD is primarily asserting that the documents that Disney is specifically asking for are listed on the district’s privilege logs, but also that (in a memorable turn of phrase), “Disney’s smoking gun is filled with blanks.”
By that, the CFTOD board is lashing back at Disney in no uncertain terms, painting the media company as aggravated and petulant, and asking for documents that have no relevance to the Disney v. DeSantis lawsuit. The Central Florida motion read, in part:
“Despite Disney’s detailed recounting of alleged discovery grievances, its Motion is woefully deplete of any meaningful category of records it thinks exist and yet has not been received. Whether or not Disney believes the universe of responsive documents is only a couple thousand large, that is in fact the relevant universe. The District has scoured tens of thousands of documents in search of anything related to the Development Agreement, the Restrictive Covenants, the Legislative Declaration, and certain other, agreed-upon topics, and the universe of documents is what it is. At most, Disney seems upset that the District’s productions took a bit longer than estimated. That grievance hardly justifies the Motion before the Court.”
The judge has not yet announced whether the CFTOD’s latest filing will be approved.
Since the beginning of the lawsuit, the CFTOD board (led by DeSantis appointee Glen Gilzean) has attempted to have it dismissed, claiming that “Disney’s First Amendment claims are meritless.”
Related: DeSantis Disney District Cuts Off Residents From Services
Disney v. DeSantis is the most prominent of the company’s battles with the Florida governor and former presidential candidate, hinging on his dissolving of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the special tax district around Disney World. Since 1967, Disney had acted as the de facto government in the area (in exchange for shouldering a massive tax bill), but when former CEO Bob Chapek ran afoul of DeSantis, it was abruptly dismantled and replaced with the CFTOD.
The legal case between DeSantis and Disney is ongoing, and Inside the Magic will update our coverage as news breaks.
What do you think of the CFTOD’s latest claim against Disney? Let’s hear it in the comments below!