The ongoing saga of The Walt Disney Company versus Ron Desantis and his hapless oversight board continues.
In the Florida governor’s latest attempt to exert his power against Disney and it’s theme parks for standing against his “Don’t Say Gay” law among other violations against the civil rights of Florida’s marginalized people and allies, he’s asking for current litigation to be dismissed. In a report detailed by Deadline, the Governor is reckoning with Disney’s counterclaims against the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. It’s legal team struck back in a filing within the state court of Orange County, FL, writing that the agreements were “null and void under state law.” In a pretty please desperate attempt to get the courts to side with them over an agreement that’s legit.
That agreement being the sly move Disney slipped in at the 11th hour to protect it’s control over development on their theme park area under the “Royal Lives” clause. The unbelievable but true rule that Disney presented publicly with press present to certify the clause states, “[a] royal lives clause is a contract clause which provides that a certain right must be exercised within the lifetime plus 21 years of the last living descendant of a British monarch who was alive when the contract was made. The rule generally affects two types of transactions, namely trusts, and options to acquire property,” as defined by U.S.Legal.com. It doesn’t cover royal children not yet born, so Disney is protected by Prince Harry’s daughter Princess Lilibet—currently two years old—until 21 years after her passing, to back up their claim that DeSantis and his board had repeatedly violated their First Amendment rights. “The [DeSantis-appointed] district’s retaliatory interference with the contracts, via the legislative declaration and its predicates, has chilled and continues to chill Disney’s protected speech,” the company’s legal team asserted on firm ground.
It hasn’t stopped DeSantis from public ongoing embarrassment by letting this charade continue to go on by trying to invalidate the development agreements that Disney was smart to pull. The most their claiming to attempt to get the courts to side with them is the following, ““to start, a development agreement for Walt Disney World is most unusual because there have been development activities in the area for more than fifty-five years without any development agreement.” they say of the company not previously doing this before. Well they didn’t need to but had the right to, they just didn’t know what they were up against or really qualified as DeSantis clueless picks.
Keep up with io9 for more updates on Disney vs. DeSantis.
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