Following a ruling from a local judge in the state-level lawsuit over a Development Agreement between Disney World and the DeSantis’ controlled Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, Disney has an upcoming deadline for the next steps in the case.
In late July, Judge Margaret H Schreiber ruled against Disney’s Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit and said that the case could move forward. In that order, Judge Schreiber said that Disney would have 20 days to respond, setting the next deadline for the case as Thursday, August 17th.
Disney is listed as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit and a defendant in a state-level lawsuit. In the state-level lawsuit in question for this article, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District is seeking a declaration from a local judge that a Development Agreement is null and void. Essentially, the CFTOD is arguing that the development contract was void ab initio, meaning that there were a number of legal infirmities that made the February 2023 contract invalid from the jump.
Judge Schreiber essentially said that the argument of whether or not the Development Contract and Restrictive Covenant (agreements) are valid is an active issue and not moot as Disney had argued. In the federal case, Judge Schreiber notes that four of the five arguments Disney presents contend that the agreements are valid despite Disney’s argument that Senate Bill 1604 rendered the contracts void in its Motion to Dismiss the state-level case.
Therefore, Judge Schreiber says it is important to rule on the validity of the agreements. Judge Schreiber seemed to be quite sympathetic to the CFTOD argument, saying that the validity of the agreements contradicts the Legislature’s policies toward the District “and, if valid, would permit Disney to control all development rights and land use regulations in one of the most heavily visited areas in Central Florida. These issues implicate matters of the State’s sovereignty and are of great interest to its economy and citizenry”.
Judge Schreiber only ruled on the Motion to Dismiss filed by Disney and did not offer a ruling in terms of the actual argument of the lawsuit.
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