The Walt Disney Company is suing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to a new federal filing.
Action News Jax is digging through that paperwork right now.
According to the New York Timesthe company claimed a “targeted campaign of government retaliation,” which it said stemmed from its criticism of a contentious state education law.
The suit states, “It is a clear violation of Disney’s federal constitutional rights—under the Contracts Clause, the Taking Clause, the Due Process Clause, and the First Amendment—for the State to inflict a concerted campaign of retaliation because the Company expressed an opinion with which the government disagreed.”
in a statement obtained by Action News Jax sister station WFTV in OrlandoDeSantis’s communications director, Taryn Fenske, called the lawsuit “another unfortunate example of (Disney’s) hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law.”
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“We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state,” Fenske said.
Disney sued after the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board moved to reverse a deal made with the former board which stripped the current board of most of its powers, WFTV reported. In its complaint, Disney said the deal “had laid the foundation for billions of Disney’s investment dollars and thousands of jobs.”
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“This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional,” the company’s attorneys wrote in the complaint. “But the Governor and his allies have made clear they do not care and will not stop.”
In addition to DeSantis, Disney named Meredith Ivey, the acting secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s board and the district’s administrator. The district was created by DeSantis in February to replace Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, which previously had control over the area’s development.
We will continue to follow this breaking story and have the latest updates on CBS47 & FOX30 Action News Jax at 5.
READ THE LAWSUIT IN FULL BELOW:
Disney vs. DeSantis Lawsuit by ActionNewsJax on Scribd
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