Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a June 26, 2023 election rally in Eagle Pass, Texas.
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Attorneys for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis asked the federal court on Monday to dismiss the case Disneya lawsuit alleging political retaliation against the corporate, arguing that he and not less than one other defendant are “immune” and that Disney has no standing to sue them.
Attorneys also argued that Disney’s grievance – that DeSantis attacked the corporate after it denounced the state’s controversial Classification Act, derided by critics as “Don’t Say Gay” – “doesn’t contain a claim upon which relief might be granted.”
A Disney spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
The governor’s offer to dismiss the lawsuit comes because it builds on a drawn-out battle with Disney through the Republican presidential primaries campaign. The battle between DeSantis, the GOP’s top challenger behind former President Donald Trump, and Disney, one among Florida’s top employers, has been occurring for greater than a yr.
The 27-page motion to dismiss was filed by attorneys DeSantis and Meredith Ivey, appointed secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
“Disney doesn’t have legal standing to sue the governor and secretary, who’re also exempt from trial,” they argued within the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee.
The entertainment giant’s lawsuit centers on a special tax district that features Walt Disney World in Florida, which for a long time allowed the corporate to essentially run its operations there by itself. After Disney criticized the Republican-backed Classroom Act, DeSantis and his allies decided to disband this special tax district.
The district, formerly generally known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, was ultimately left unaffected, amid fears that neighboring counties could be burdened with debt if dissolved. But it surely was renamed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, and its five-member board was replaced with DeSantis’ preferred nominees.
Disney made development deals before these recent board members took over. The brand new board members accused the corporate of thwarting their authority and voted to void the contracts, prompting the corporate to sue.
The governor’s attorneys argued in Monday’s statement that “any alleged injuries that will result from “district and contract clashes” are “not traceable to the state defendants, and ordering the state defendants would bring no relief to Disney.”
Attorneys wrote that neither DeSantis nor Ivey enforced any of the pieces of laws which can be the topic of the lawsuit, and Disney’s attempts to link them to those laws “are unconvincing.”
“Signing the law shouldn’t be ‘enforcing’ the law,” they argued, adding that “Disney’s claims against the governor equate to his legislative immunity” and “allegations of intent to retaliate don’t change the evaluation.”
Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit in federal court in late April. Just a few days later, the DeSantis-appointed board filed an objection in state court. Disney made a suggestion in May to dismiss the lawsuit on the state level.
The board responded with an objection in a June 19 filing, writing, “Disney’s motion is a classic imagination, encouraging the Court to consider that reality is what Disney dreams of.”