The Walt Disney Co. has dropped numerous claims from its ongoing lawsuit towards Ron DeSantis, trimming down the go well with to as a substitute concentrate on alleged First Modification violations.
In a criticism filed on Tuesday (through The Hollywood Reporter), Disney amended its authentic lawsuit, dropping Contracts Clause, Takings Clause, and Due Course of Clause violations. As a substitute, the go well with will now concentrate on the allegations that DeSantis retaliated particularly towards Disney for its opposition to Florida’s “Don’t Say Homosexual” legislation, a transfer that Disney claims violated its proper to free speech.
What’s the historical past of Disney vs. Florida?
The state of affairs between Disney and DeSantis started earlier this yr, when an settlement between Disney and a particular district in Florida over improvement contracts initially happened on February 8, 2023, a day earlier than Florida’s state legislature handed a invoice on the behest of DeSantis that modified the management construction at Disney’s Reedy Creek Enchancment District.
The brand new invoice allowed DeSantis to nominate members of the district’s governing physique himself, which led Disney to sue DeSantis in April, alleging that DeSantis was going after the corporate for its views by hand-picking an oversight board that voided an settlement between Disney and the earlier oversight board.
Following the lawsuit, Disney was taken to courtroom by the state, with a state courtroom protecting Florida’s Orange and Osceola counties by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District accusing Disney of placing collectively a “collection of eleventh-hour offers” so as to retain the powers that allowed it to proceed overseeing the operation of improvement round its theme park.
