This seemed like a matter of time. But now it's official. Disney is pushing back against Governor DeSantis's latest moves to exert state control over the Magic Kingdom. A few weeks back we covered how the old Reedy Creek board had executed a Declaration of Restrictive Covenants that greatly limited what the new board (the "Central Florida Tourism Oversight District") could do in terms of Disney. Yesterday, the new board declared the Declaration "void and unenforceable." Separately the Florida Legislature has recently pushed forward legislation that would prohibit enforcement of the Declaration (along with a Development Agreement) "unless the [new board] were to readopt them."
Disney presents a host of constitutional challenges to the state's action, arguing that it's "[a] targeted campaign of government retaliation--orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney's protected speech[.]"
Disney isn't lacking for sound bites. How about this quote from the Florida representative who introduced the original Reedy Creek dissolution bill? “You kick the hornet’s nest, things come up. And I will say this: You got me on one thing, this bill does target one company. It targets The Walt Disney Company.”
Hard to believe.
The complaint (excerpted below) was filed in the Northern District of Florida. Will be fascinating to see this play out.
Disney Complaint by John Byrne on Scribd
8 comments:
Shotgun pleading that even Walker will have to dismiss with leave. Rely on DC, LA, NYC lawyers for your Florida case at your own peril.
Then Walker will either write an order reaming DeSantis but denying the injunction (like Hinkle did in Andrew Warren case), or he'll grant the injunction and be summarily reversed by the 11th circuit in about a week just like in the voting rights case.
Plenty of big time politically connected law firms in Florida. You let them take the lead for a suit like this. Instead, Disney puts the pro hac vice attorneys from New York, California, and D.C. in charge and leaves the Florida attorney at the end when he's the only one actually admitted to practice in the jurisdiction.
Three observations: First, yes, each count incorporates all the preceding paragraphs of the complaint, which technically is a shotgun pleading. That said, Judge Walker does not "have" to dismiss the complaint on that ground (especially on an otherwise clearly written complaint like this one). Second, many large Florida law firms would be hesitant to go against the Governor on a politically charged case like this one (because of conflicts or fear of pissing off other clients or just not wanting to be at the center of a political battle). Last, you don't have to have Florida lawyers anyway because, let's face it, this case will be decided at the Eleventh Circuit; Judge Walker's opinion really won't matter.
Good points, I agree. I think beyond incorporating all preceding counts the complaint also fails at specifying which claims are asserted against which defendants. Usually "all claims against all defendants" doesn't cut it.
But you are correct that Walker's decision is largely irrelevant and this will be decided by the 11th Circuit.
Quite the coincidence that the 11th Circuit issued its opinion reversing 98% of Walker's ruling in the voting case yesterday. Jill Pryor's "dissent" just threw in the towel.
Here’s the line for DeSantis. For free. “It’s a Mickey Mouse lawsuit. “
@Rumpole, chef's kiss.
7:59: Incorporating every single preceding paragraph in all counts is not "shotgun," it is actually what Florida case law misleadingly refers to as "duplicitous." And that word normally has to do with duplicity, not unnecessary over-repetitiveness. We need a better word since "duplicative" would not be right either. I think we also need a better word for what the 11th Circuit does to cases than "decide."
Rumpole, it was the funniest thing this year when DeSantis said the case was "political."
The Eleventh Circuit has specified 4 instances where a complaint should be dismissed as a shotgun pleading. Number one on the list is incorporating all previous counts into each successive count.
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