The CFTOD Asks Florida Judge To Dismiss Disney’s Countersuit — “They Have Unclean Hands”
The Ron DeSantis-appointed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) is asking a state judge to dismiss Disney’s counterclaim against the special district.
This comes in response to the CFTOD’s state suit against Disney, which looks to nullify the last-minute deals that the company made with the Reedy Creek Improvement District in the waning days of that district’s existence.
Those binding agreements essentially give Disney governing powers over its Central Florida lands in perpetuity.
Although the Florida Legislature retroactively nullified the agreements, which the CFTOD says hinders their ability to govern, the district is still asking a state court to void the agreements.
Disney’s Countersuit
In a countersuit filed at the end of August, Disney argued that because the Reedy Creek Improvement District was never dissolved, only renamed and restructured by the governor, their agreements are lawful and valid.
Disney is suing for damages because the CFTOD refuses its “duty to perform” under these “valid and binding” contracts.
“As a direct and proximate result of the District’s anticipatory repudiations and, in the alternative, material failure to perform its duties under both Contracts, Disney has suffered and will continue to suffer damages, including consequential damages,” lawyers for the company wrote.
The CFTOD’s Response
In a filing today, lawyers for the CFTOD asked a judge to dismiss the countersuit, asserting that the contracts are void, and thus not enforceable.
“All of Disney’s counterclaims fail as a matter of law,” attorneys for the district board wrote in a court filing Wednesday.
The contracts are “void as a matter of Florida law and therefore have never had any legal force or existence,” the board wrote.
In another court filing Wednesday, the CFTOD repeatedly wrote that Disney should have known that their agreements were not valid and that “Disney has unclean hands.”
“Disney is the cause of the Agreements’ invalidity,” the new board wrote, arguing that the company “knew or should have known that the Agreements were fatally defective and is charged with a duty to ascertain their legality.
With another front now opened in the ongoing battle between DeSantis and Disney, any hope of this situation resolving soon seems to be a longshot.