Following a ruling in Disney’s favor that pushes a summary judgment hearing to 2024, Judge Margaret Schreiber has established a new hearing date. Judge Schreiber will hear the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s argument for a summary judgment on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. Judge Schreiber ruled in Disney’s favor for a 75-day continuance after Disney argued that the CFTOD dragged its feet on matters of discovery after making promises that it would deliver documents.

Zooming out a bit, this is the state-level case that was brought by the CFTOD against Disney World, asking an Orange County judge to rule on long-term development contracts that the District says are null and void due largely to procedural errors. The District levels a series of claims against Disney and the way the former District Board of Supervisors entered into 30-year development contracts. Long-term development contracts are not uncommon in the state of Florida and typically offer a level of reassurance to companies wishing to make investments in the state without the fear of elections interfering with their plans.

In the case of the formerly named Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney and the District entered into long-term contracts in February of this year before Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was able to install a new Board of Supervisors. Disney argues and provides evidence to the fact that there were public notices and public hearings on the development contracts with zero opposition. From the outside looking in, it appears that the State was not paying attention and only “discovered” the contracts after the new Board was installed despite the public notices.

Once DeSantis installed his hand-picked Board of Supervisors, they started reading through the documents and produced a list of alleged infirmities such as a lack of snail mail notice of the public meetings to those affected within the District. A lawsuit was filed by the District against Disney in March 2023 where the District is asking a judge to rule on the alleged infirmities. With a ruling, the District and Disney would be provided some clarity on how the next few decades could proceed in terms of the development rights and restrictions between Disney World and the District.

In an effort to build its case, Disney has asked the District to produce a number of documents. Disney says that the District agreed to produce documents when the lawyers between the two parties had met. Instead, the District has “dodged obligations” to produce discovery, hindering Disney’s ability to build a case. Disney lawyers effectively explained how the District was dragging its feet in a hearing last week, and the judge has ruled that a 75-day continuance is warranted. In a filing prior to the hearing, the District said that it would comply with the discovery requests.

While the court has set a hearing date for March 12, 2024, it also requested that hearing materials be submitted no later than March 5, 2024. The court also said that it would entertain any discovery disputes in the meantime. It’s important to remember that both the CFTOD and Disney World are fighting over documents that will dictate development rights over the next 30 years, so while the process seems a bit slow compared to the pace of news we’re used to, it’s a battle worth fighting for both sides.

In the meantime, Disney is seemingly turning up the heat a bit with a press release noting that it is a major economic player in the state of Florida. Disney CEO Bob Iger has previously committed to $17 billion worth of investment at Walt Disney World to the tune of 13,000 additional jobs over the next decade. Disney seems prepared to invest in Walt Disney World, but even Iger is questioning whether or not the state wants Disney to invest in its Florida theme parks.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!