The Dueling Disney Lawsuits
This is the first of what will be several posts on the subject of the Disney/Florida lawsuits.
There are two big questions hanging over this lawsuit by Disney. Has there been a 1st amendment violation by Ron DeSantis against the Walt Disney Company? And if there has been, is Disney guilty of securities fraud?
The answer to the first question is “no,” because Ron DeSantis didn’t pass the law disbanding Reedy Creek that was the Florida legislature (DeSantis was only named in the lawsuit to win the 1st press round). However, lets adjust the question more broadly, has there been a 1st amendment violation against Disney? Before the letter of the law, no, because Reedy Creek was the only affected party. Not the Walt Disney Company.
So far as the law is concerned this is like General Motors suing the state of Michigan because it passed a law that strongly affects Detroit.
However, despite the fact that for fifty years there was a Chinese Wall between Disney and Reedy Creek, they were the same entity. Reedy Creek was completely controlled by Disney even though on paper it wasn’t. So there actually is something to this claim that it was political retaliation in reality, though not before the law.
The fundamental problem with this suit is that it appears to be reliant on a Federal court throwing out a lot of Florida state laws for the benefit of the Walt Disney Company. This is unlikely to happen and would absolutely get overturned by SCOTUS.
Basically, Disney needs an extraordinarily sympathetic judge who is going to be exceptionally selective in what he supports. Which is why they filed in Federal Court instead of a state of Florida court. Mind you, Disney would need a judge that is exceptionally dumb, lazy, and completely dependent on activist law clerks. They’ve drawn an Obama appointee.
However, Disney is now dancing on a highwire by kinda-sorta-but-not-exactly admitting that Reedy Creek and Disney were the same entity. That could (possibly) give them some standing for a 1st amendment violation, but it opens the door for potential securities fraud, (which was already done by Bob Iger at the annual stockholder meeting, so I guess it was already on the table).
And just as I started roughing this article in, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, (formerly Reedy Creek Improvement District), filed suit against the Walt Disney Company. Note: They have filed their lawsuit in a Florida District Court and NOT a Federal Court. As far as I can tell, Florida land use law is very much on the CFTOD’s side. I’ll have to do more digging on the countersuit. The only information on it right now is from the Retard Media.
Please, oh please let this go to discovery.
Developing.
