The board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District has filed a lawsuit against Disney to protect its governing power.
The board unanimously passed the motion to file a countersuit on Monday. The suit was filed in the Circuit Court of the 9th Judicial Circuit in and for Orange County, Florida. Board Chairman Martin Garcia said that the board was forced to act because they were named as defendants in Disney's lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
DESANTIS-APPOINTED BOARD ANNOUNCES COUNTER LAWSUIT AGAINST DISNEY
While acknowledging some initial good that came from the granting of special status to Disney, the lawsuit claims that the company has used its "influence to obtain what must have seemed like permanent exemptions from the democratic checks and balances that apply to all other Florida businesses."
"For 55 years, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts U.S., Inc. (“Disney”), its predecessors, and its affiliates, ran their own private government on 25,000 acres in Central Florida. Within its fiefdom, Disney wrote the laws that governed itself, chose whether and how to enforce those laws against itself, and set its own tax rate. No other Florida business, large or small, enjoyed those benefits," the filing reads.
The countersuit claims that Disney is attempting to contest Florida's "people’s sovereignty," and it says Disney's "puppet government" has put together a deal that violates "Florida constitutional, statutory, and common law."
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The board defended its actions as simply bringing "accountability, transparency, and normalized, even-handed administration" to Disney.
The countersuit is in response to a lawsuit from Disney, brought forward last week, alleging that Florida's government is engaging in a politically motivated attack against the company, violating Disney's First Amendment right to speech, the contract and takings clauses in the U.S. Constitution, and the company's 14th Amendment right to due process.