Disney has asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that effectively accomplishes what the District was asking a judge to rule on.
As always, the heart of the matter is a Development Agreement between Disney and the District that gives Disney vast oversight in the development of land within the District. The District asked a judge to enforce the “legislative finding” of the District that the contract was null and void for a variety of alleged infirmities. Before the court could rule, DeSantis signed a bill that nullified the Development Agreement via a narrowly written amendment.
CFTOD’s complaint challenges the validity of the Contracts on various procedural and substantive grounds. Those challenges have been mooted by the enactment of Senate Bill 1604, through which CFTOD obtained the exact result it seeks in this state court lawsuit. The Legislature has forbidden CFTOD from complying with the Contracts, rendering them immediately void and unenforceable. Fla. Stat. § 189.031(7). In the Governor’s own words, they “are revoked.” This Court accordingly cannot provide meaningful relief to either party: A ruling in CFTOD’s favor would be pointless, and a ruling in Disney’s favor would be meaningless.
Here’s the filed Motion to Dismiss by Disney.
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Disney conceded the point. So Florida can now ask for a summary judgment. Disney is so clever.