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

[mf1972]

State lawyer: "Your honor; I object to this whole Mickey Mouse operation!"

Disney lawyer in the room hears this and starts drafting a trademark infringement suit.

i can quote a joe pesci line from my cousin vinny but it will be quickly deleted for sure

 

[flynnibus]

I didn’t think it was saying motive was completely irrelevant. In that case they couldn’t prove motive but there was evidence of a legitimate reason for doing what they did. From your post:

W]e think it clear, that a government regulation is sufficiently justified if it is within the constitutional power of the Government; if it furthers an important or substantial governmental interest; if the governmental interest is unrelated to the suppression of free expression; and if the incidential restriction on alleged First Amendment freedoms is not greater than is essential to the furtherance of that interest

So in that case they determined there was an important government interest that was unrelated to the suppression of free speech. In this case the people passing the legislation have already told us their motivation was to punish Disney. That’s not a substantial governmental interest and even if it was, that interest is not unrelated to free speech.

But there are other 'government interests' that are not suppression of free speech - that's the crux and where the debate will be. The ruling about legislative immunity is not that every element is free of suppression of speech, but more that the act is MORE than that. When they justify that.. the suppression part is ignored. Hence why in O'Brian while jailing someone for the burning of draft cards is in itself suppressing political speech, the gov successfully argued there are other legitimate government interests to have the law... so the 1A suppression element was ignored.

 

[flynnibus]

Exactly. In Kensington you didn't have a legislative record of legislators stating, on the record, that this was being done to punish the volunteer firefighters.

No, even the NEED to quantify that motive is not part of the discussion... It's considered immunity and the motive angle irrelevant.

Kensignton wasn't about a failure to prove motive - quite the opposite - it found motive was irrelevant because the action itself was otherwise legitimate legislative action.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The Most Magical Legal Team on Earth is off to kick butt. Go get em!View attachment 712750

Just designed these for the legal team, where do I send them?

 

[Andrew C]

Just designed these for the legal team, where do I send them?View attachment 712756

What’s the return policy if they lose? Full refund or just a credit for another purchase?

 

[UNCgolf]

I personally don't find the Kensington argument very persuasive. In addition to the fact that it's a 4th Circuit ruling (persuasive authority rather than mandatory -- the 11th Circuit is free to ignore it), I don't think it's difficult to differentiate between the facts of that case and the facts of this one.

The actual controlling Supreme Court case (O'Brien) lays out a four part test, and Disney can certainly make a good argument that the law does not pass the O'Brien test. It'll be up to a judge to interpret and decide.

 

[GoofGoof]

As someone posted earlier the Federal Judge in this case is a tough draw for DeSantis. He called FL a First Amendment upside down

Walker said Florida had become a place where the First Amendment allowed, rather than prevented, the state to limit speech. Or as he put it, "in the popular television series Stranger Things, the 'upside down' describes a parallel dimension containing a distorted version of our world. Recently, Florida has seemed like a First Amendment upside down."

The appeals court will likely decide whether whatever he rules is going to stand, but it’s a bad first draw for the state.

Disney v. DeSantis judge called Florida governor's law 'dystopian'

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) -When attorneys for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appear in court to defend against Walt Disney Co's lawsuit that accuses the Republican official of weaponizing state government, they will see a familiar face, if not always a welcome one. U.S. District Judge Mark...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Good grief…Ben Ginsberg just said Disney has a 1A case and Florida is overreaching…


…man…this guy thinks Nixon parted the red sea

 

[Cliff]

This whole Disney vs Florida, legislators and Governor thing has gone way off the rails. The Walt Disney Corporation has attracted hundreds of millions to the state, created hundreds of thousands of state jobs and paid billions in state taxes. They have brought so much joy to the people of this state.....so YES...they ARE entitled to control their own local government. So what?...Disney has a puppet government. Big deal!...any company that is as loved as this this one has earned the right to have whatever it wants.

This thing just needs to end before Florida scares Disney away....then the state will really feel sorry! Just let Disney have their way... move on and look the other way. The same way its always been done since the late 60's....why stop now?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Yeah, but that is related to the contracts topics - not the challenges to 4C and 9B.

State can easily argue there are "legitimate state interest" in deciding how a district is managed.

I think the need to call a mulligan undermines the need. It gets into state-specific matters, but there were also issues with how they went about that management.

 

[Chi84]

No, even the NEED to quantify that motive is not part of the discussion... It's considered immunity and the motive angle irrelevant.

Kensignton wasn't about a failure to prove motive - quite the opposite - it found motive was irrelevant because the action itself was otherwise legitimate legislative action.

The state is going to have a much more difficult time establishing a legitimate legislative action here.

The budget in Kensington was an ordinary budget passed in the usual fashion that impacted only 1.8% of the plaintiff’s funding. It was a facially legitimate budget that served a substantial government interest.

The draft card legislation prohibiting altering or destroying the cards in O’Brien was also found to have several legitimate purposes unrelated to the plaintiff's claimed violation.

The legislation directed at Disney was pretty specifically targeted toward them so establishing that it was facially legitimate to serve a substantial public interest may be more difficult. You are correct that legislative immunity is broadly protected, but constitutional violations are seldom as blatant as the ones seen here.

There's more to say about both of these cases, but it's probably more efficient to wait for the state's response before going into any in-depth analysis.

 

[Patcheslee]

Not 100% sure how open Sunshine State law is about things being public. But could the quote below mean they could request all records of such discussions, because DeSantis admitted to them. Taken from the top of page 20.

 

[RamblinWreck]

So how long do we have to wait for discovery to start?

I can only imagine how entertaining the communications between the DeSantis Admin and the CFTOD board will be. Both before they were installed and after.

Plus the communications between the DeSantis Admin and the legislature.


Is it possible any of these could cause additional legal woes for the governor?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Today’s Board of Supervisors meeting is a pretty damning bit of evidence against public need. Constituents presented concerns with the Board’s planned actions and they were summarily ignored because the public concerns didn’t align with the board and governor’s pre-existing desires.

 

[GoofGoof]

Not 100% sure how open Sunshine State law is about things being public. But could the quote below mean they could request all records of such discussions, because DeSantis admitted to them. Taken from the top of page 20.
View attachment 712765

I imagine they could ask for public records, but not sure they need them. He wrote that he did this in his own book so how can he dispute he didn’t say it? Seems like a slam dunk to prove.

 

[lazyboy97o]

So how long do we have to wait for discovery to start?

I can only imagine how entertaining the communications between the DeSantis Admin and the CFTOD board will be. Both before they were installed and after.

Plus the communications between the DeSantis Admin and the legislature.


Is it possible any of these could cause additional legal woes for the governor?

I think the problem would be any sort of standing to create legal woes. Could the various local governments and other districts seek any sort of compensation for expenses incurred trying to figure out how to absorb the districts?

 

[wdwmagic]

Today’s Board of Supervisors meeting is a pretty damning bit of evidence against public need. Constituents presented concerns with the Board’s planned actions and they were summarily ignored because the public concerns didn’t align with the board and governor’s pre-existing desires.

Yep, and while I sympathize with the situation that those Disney operating participants are in, it was sad to see them talking to a board that really only care about one thing, and that is following the direction of DeSantis to punish DIsney.

 

[GrumpyFan]

Yep, and while I sympathize with the situation that those Disney operating participants are in, it was sad to see them talking to a board that really only care about one thing, and that is following the direction of DeSantis to punish DIsney.

It should be a big concern for all businesses and individuals in the state.
It sends a message that if you don't comply or speak out against the policies, they will change the laws to punish you for it.

 

[mikejs78]

This whole Disney vs Florida, legislators and Governor thing has gone way off the rails. The Walt Disney Corporation has attracted hundreds of millions to the state, created hundreds of thousands of state jobs and paid billions in state taxes. They have brought so much joy to the people of this state.....so YES...they ARE entitled to control their own local government. So what?...Disney has a puppet government. Big deal!...any company that is as loved as this this one has earned the right to have whatever it wants.

This thing just needs to end before Florida scares Disney away....then the state will really feel sorry! Just let Disney have their way... move on and look the other way. The same way its always been done since the late 60's....why stop now?

You are completely missing the point.

 

[Figgy1]

Yep, and while I sympathize with the situation that those Disney operating participants are in, it was sad to see them talking to a board that really only care about one thing, and that is following the direction of DeSantis to punish DIsney.

I became rather upset when the woman speaking for Basin was also talking about how it would hurt not just them but also their suppliers which are small businesses. This whole we know what show is hurting not just Disney which can absorb most of what is being thrown at them but it's the smaller companies that are going to feel the most pain