Revenge is a dish best served cold.
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board has announced that it will counter-sue Disney after the company filed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
“Disney sued us, we have no choice now but to respond,” Martin Garcia, chair of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, said Monday, according to Fox News. “The district will seek justice in state court here in central Florida where both it and Disney reside and do business.”
On Monday, the DeSantis-backed board convened and passed a motion to take legal action against Disney, which will be filed in state court.
Disney filed a lawsuit against DeSantis last week, alleging the Republican governor orchestrated a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” against the company that violates Disney’s free speech rights. (RELATED: Disney Sues Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis)
Disney is challenging the legality of a new board appointed by DeSantis to govern the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District – where the Walt Disney World resort is located.
Earlier this year, Gov. DeSantis signed a new law into effect that stripped Disney World of its self-governing status. (RELATED: Florida Governor Signs Bill Revoking Disney’s Self-Governing Status)
The bill, HB9, renamed the Reedy Creek Improvement District, where Disney World is housed, to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Under the new law, the park may only have term-limited members who are not recent employees or have been contracted by Disney in the past three years.
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida issued a summons against Gov. DeSantis in relation to Disney’s lawsuit. The governor was more than 6,000 miles away from the state on a trip to Israel at the time.
“A lawsuit has been filed against you,” it says, adding that “[w]ithin 21 days after service of this summons on you (not counting the day you received it)… you must serve on the plaintiff an answer to the attached complaint or a motion under Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”
DeSantis, in Jerusalem last Thursday said “I don’t think the suit has merit.”
“They’re upset because they’re having to live by the same rules as everybody else. They don’t want to pay the same taxes as everybody else, and they want to be able to control things without proper oversight,” DeSantis added. “The days of putting one company on a pedestal with no accountability are over in the state of Florida.”
The Florida governor is widely expected to enter the 2024 Republican presidential primary in the coming weeks, teeing up an intense fight against former President Donald Trump.
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