The Walt Disney Company issued a statement in response to Judge Allen Winsor dismissing the company’s lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 27: (L-R) The Walt Disney Company Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger and Bradley Cooper attend the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 World Premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on April 27, 2023. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Disney)
According to Blog Mickey, a Disney spokesman stated, “This is an important case with serious implications for the rule of law, and it will not end here. If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with.”
He concluded, “We are determined to press forward with our case.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaking with attendees at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s 2023 Annual Leadership Summit at the Venetian Convention & Expo Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Winsor dismissed the case in a 17-page document where he concluded, “The clerk will enter a judgment that says, ‘This case was resolved on motions to dismiss. Plaintiff’s claims against the Governor and the Department Secretary are dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Plaintiff’s claims against the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board members are dismissed on the merits for failure to state a claim.”
Earlier in the document he also explained, “As a general matter, the First Amendment prohibits government officials from subjecting individuals to retaliatory actions after the fact for having engaged in protected speech.’ But it is settled law that ‘when a statute is facially constitutional, a plaintiff cannot bring a free-speech challenge by claiming that the lawmakers who passed it acted with a constitutionally permissible purpose.’ The Eleventh Circuit has ‘held that many times.’ And this settled law forecloses Disney’s claim.”
He also noted, “In short, Disney lacks standing to sue the Governor or the Secretary, and its claims against the CFTOD Defendants fail on the merits because ‘when a statute is facially constitutional, a plaintiff cannot bring a free-speech challenge by claiming that the lawmakers who passed it acted with a constitutionally impermissible purpose.”
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Legal analyst Andrew Esquire of Legal Mindset, who predicted this outcome back at the end of June 2023, reacted to the judge dismissing the lawsuit saying, “This has been issued a motion to dismiss. A motion to dismiss is the very first stage at which a claim can be ended, which a claim can be gotten rid of it. It’s saying at this point you don’t even have enough facts to support a valid claim here.”
He continued, “And under a motion to dismiss all facts are taken in favor of Disney, in favor of the party against which the motion is pending. So since Ron DeSantis, the Secretary, the CFTOD, all of them were trying to dismiss this, they were the ones trying to file these motions to dismiss, well Disney and the facts that Disney put up were taken as favorably as possible. So the judge is looking at them in the light most favorable to Disney, assuming everything Disney said was true, which, by the way, I can tell you factually is not. Disney is, well, stating a lot of BS.”
Esquire then added, “They found out that both in regards to the Governor and in regards to the CFTOD the case must be dismissed and for exactly the reasons I’ve been saying for a year.”
Specifically addressing why the judge dismissed the claim against Governor Ron DeSantis, Esquire explained, “The governor was claimed to have passed this law in a way that was impermissible, but the real question is for standing, is there a possible thing this court can do that would stop the governor or the legislature from doing what they’re doing in the future? And this court conclusively answered no. There is nothing you can do to stop a special district from being created or destroyed.”
“The state, as it says clearly in the case, the legislature can create and destroy special districts. They control everything regarding this,” he said.
He later explained, “So in this case there’s nothing to stop the future action of the legislature because the legislature could just pass another law, simply pass another law recreating the district and that would be completely legitimate.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis giving the annual State of the State speech. Photo Credit: Office of the Governor of Florida, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Moving on to the CFTOD, Esquire said, “Now, against the CFTOD they did indeed have standing. So there was standing to try to address grievances against the CFTOD, but there was no claim. There was failure to state a claim. There is no single action that CFTOD did that was wrong here or nothing that they could change or really do to change what the CFTOD does as the CFTOD versus RCID.”
“And furthermore Disney is not the only person, they’re not the only taxpayer within the CFTOD, within the Reedy Creek. There are other taxpayers. Now, yes, they are the largest taxpayer. Disney pays the most taxes within the CFTOD, but they’re not the only taxpayer. … Disney is not Reedy Creek. They are the largest landowner. They were the ones who got to elect the votes because that was how the system was, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same thing. And the bill doesn’t mention Disney at all. In fact, it doesn’t touch Disney at all. It doesn’t mention Disney at one bit specifically. It mentions only Reedy Creek and therefore there’s no claim for them in terms of actual damage as Disney. Disney is not harmed here. So therefore this First Amendment falls flat. The argument for First Amendment falls flat and must be dismissed,” he asserted.
Cinderalla’s Castle in Walt Disney World via 4k WDW YouTube
What do you make of Disney’s response?
Wonder how long Bob spent crying in the shower yesterday.
They’re not paying those lawyers enough to deal with this nonsense. lol
So Disney still wants to push forward with a case they can’t win? Unbelievable.
A judge helps cut budges on a court case and Bob says we’re artists and we just need more executives in court watching the lawyers. Money well spent Disney stockholders?
“This isn’t over yet!” Yeah it is. Go sit on a cactus, Bob.