News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

[JohnD]

First Epic. Now this. Not a good week for Disney.

 

[Surferboy567]

Do you think they waited for Epic to spit in their faces?

Or is it a bad coincidence?

 

[mkt]

They've lost the independence the old agreement gave them, while still paying more than they would otherwise if the district didn't exist.

I'd argue damages already exist.

So do I.

Now it's time for Disney's accountants to find actionable financial damages which can be attributed to this and then file suit once more.

 

[Surferboy567]

I always thought the state suit would be a battle for them. They likely wouldn’t win.

I’d thought they win the federal suit.

What happens to the board’s suit now?

 

[JohnD]

Do you think they waited for Epic to spit in their faces?

Or is it a bad coincidence?

Coincidence. I highly doubt a federal court judge was watching theme park news.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Here's what everyone needs to know.

"Disney has alleged enough to show standing to sue the CFTOD Defendants. Disney has not, though, shown standing to sue the Governor or the Secretary." (p. 5 of https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flnd.463456/gov.uscourts.flnd.463456.114.0.pdf)

In other words, this suit is dismissed. Go back to the drawing board and re-work your suit against CFTOD only.

This is how I read it too but I am not a lawyer and legal speak is a foreign language to me.

Hopefully they have a recourse because this will set a terrifying precedent if it stands, and I can think of a lot of politicians who would love to punish businesses (and owners) they disagree with.

 

[mmascari]

They've lost the independence the old agreement gave them, while still paying more than they would otherwise if the district didn't exist.

Does the charter include a way for those within the district to dissolve it voluntarily?

That would be quite a drastic step. But, it might be necessary at some point.

 

[mkt]

I'm chatting with one of my drinking crew, a person is an old friend of mine who is a planner for Disney.

Here's the "family friendly" screenshot, while preserving their anonymity.

View attachment 766072

And more, because the conversation didn't end.

More TL;DR

Expectation is now TWDC staffs up Bay Lake and LBV to take over more of the legacy RCID responsibilities within their boundaries. With DeSantis's next play to remove their charters as well.

 

[mkt]

What happens to the board’s suit now?

The board's suit is a contract dispute. Same players, different suit.

 

[peter11435]

Just shut up Disney and entertain…..Universal just released a company announcement for Epic Universe and how they will entertain their guests. Disney is continues alienate half of their customer base.

Disney’s theme parks and media over the last 100 years have aimed to entertain, inspire, and educate. You could use some of the last one.

 

[Disney Analyst]

They drew an "originalist" judge.

You would think no matter the judge, the law is the law, and it would be applied equally the same regardless who oversees of the case.

Is the judicial system a lost cause in the US?

 

[eddie104]

While this an unfortunate ruling Disney has lawyers for days and will figure out their next steps carefully.

 

[flynnibus]

This is how I read it too but I am not a lawyer and legal speak is a foreign language to me.

It's not even legal speak - he summarizes it right before the paragraph John has highlighted. This is somehow selective reading...

Defendants are the Governor, the Secretary of Florida’s Department of Commerce,3 and all members of CFTOD’s board. All Defendants moved to dismiss. The Governor and the Secretary argue lack of standing and Eleventh Amendment immunity. The CFTOD Defendants argue Disney’s claim fails on the merits. After a hearing, and having carefully considered the parties’ arguments, I now grant both motions.

The rest of the filing is how he elaborates on his conclusion for those two topics. There were two motions he judged on, the removing of the Gov and Sec of State from the list of plantiffs... and the district's move to dismiss. He granted both of those. He flat out threw out Disney's case as simply not a violation of First Amendment due to criteria established in a previous case (Hubbard) refusing arguments of how this case was different.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

You would think no matter the judge, the law is the law, and it would be applied equally the same regardless who oversees of the case.

Is the judicial system a lost cause in the US?

You just described what an originalist believes, that the constitution as written was fixed and nothing beyond the constitution should be considered.

Whether that’s a good or bad thing likely depends on if you agree with the judges ruling.

It’s purely a decision based strictly on law with no consideration to common sense or the ramifications.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Winsor, Allen Cothrel​

Born 1976 in Orlando, FL

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
Nominated by Donald J. Trump on January 23, 2019, to a seat vacated by Robert Lewis Hinkle. Confirmed by the Senate on June 19, 2019, and received commission on June 21, 2019.

Education:
Auburn University, B.S.B.A., 1997
University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law, J.D., 2002

Professional Career:
Law clerk, Hon. Edward E. Carnes, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 2002-2003
Private practice, Atlanta, Georgia, 2003-2005
Private practice, Tallahassee, Florida, 2005-2013
Chief deputy solicitor general, State of Florida, 2013
Solicitor general, State of Florida, 2013-2016
Judge, Florida District Court of Appeal, First District, 2016-2019
Adjunct professor, Florida State University, 2017
Other Nominations/Recess Appointments:
Nominated to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, April 10, 2018; no Senate vote

And from Wiki:

On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. On January 23, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Winsor for a federal judgeship.[7] His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day. On February 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On June 18, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 54–42 vote. On June 19, 2019, he was confirmed by a 54–44 vote, with Democrat Joe Manchin voting for him.[11] He received his judicial commission on June 21, 2019.

And also:

He has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2005.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Federalist Society, it's a legal association that focuses on an Originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. The conservative justices of the Supreme Court also are members of the Federalist Society.

This pretty much has flipped the script. The Disney lawsuit went from being heard by one of the more liberal judges to one of the more conservative judges.

For reference, I’m quoting my post from June 2023. This post describes Judge Winsor’s background.

Disney had an uphill battle as soon as the case was reassigned to Winsor.

 

[Disney Analyst]

You just described what an originalist believes, that the constitution as written was fixed and nothing beyond the constitution should be considered.

Whether that’s a good or bad thing likely depends on if you agree with the judges ruling.

As a non-us citizen, I am mostly just trying to understand what the heck is going on haha. I know I believe the constitution should be a living breathing thing, and cases need be looked at with nuance.

But I think everyone knows this was a violation of Disney's rights to free speech, and it's a failing of the system that they won't even get their day in court.

 

[Dranth]

Disney is a business and owned by its shareholders. This will not end well for current leadership at Disney. Activist shareholders will most likely retain seats on the board and change this insanity

So, activist investors are going to secure a small minority on the board and somehow use that to make the entire board bring in a CEO that is okay with what the state has been doing?

I don't think you understand how boards work and you certainly haven't spent any time around a single CEO if you think a new one would be okay with this.

 

[flynnibus]

You just described what an originalist believes, that the constitution as written was fixed and nothing beyond the constitution should be considered.

Whether that’s a good or bad thing likely depends on if you agree with the judges ruling.

It’s purely a decision based strictly on law with no consideration to common sense or the ramifications.

His judgement wasn't even based on an interpretation of the constitution or written law. So I don't know how anyone claims orginalist beliefs cross-over here..

It's entirely based on applying criteria from previous case law. He was strict in the sense of saying "does not fit existing exceptions... so prior standard applies"

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

As a non-us citizen, I am mostly just trying to understand what the heck is going on haha. I know I believe the constitution should be a living breathing thing, and cases need be looked at with nuance.

But I think everyone knows this was a violation of Disney's rights to free speech, and it's a failing of the system that they won't even get their day in court.

We’ll see, my guess is Disney will refile with a different argument that meets the strict constitutional standards of some judges, or CFTOD will do something that blatantly causes harm and then Disney will refile. This won’t be the end of it.

 

[mkt]

I don't think you understand how boards work and you certainly haven't spent any time around a single CEO if you think a new one would be okay with this.

Exactly this.

But I have. Due to the uniqueness of my role and job function, for the past 7 years members of the C-suite, including CEOs, at several GINORMOUS publicly traded corporations were among my more common colleagues to interface with.

And if Disney's investment weren't nearly so big (think less WDW and more Aulani or DCL), I'm beyond certain that they'd consider divesting WDW and licensing it Tokyo Disneyland style.

But what do I know? I'm just your friendly neighborhood troll.