CFTOD Attorneys File Motion to Prevent Disney From Filming Depositions With Its Board Members
Attorneys for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) have filed a motion for a protective order that would stop CFTOD board members from having to give videotaped depositions to Disney attorneys.
The two sides are battling in state court over the last-minute binding agreements that Disney made with the former Reedy Creek Improvement District that essentially gave Disney control over its Central Florida lands in perpetuity.
Disney Says the CFTOD Is Dragging Their Feet
The parties have sparred in recent months over the CFTOD’s failure to provide documentation as part of the trial’s discovery process. The district, Disney says, has failed to produce communications about the Reedy Creek agreements that were written or received on CFTOD representatives’ personal devices.
“It’s enough to really get you to ask, ‘What is it they’re trying to hide here?’” Disney attorney Stephen Brody said.
“The district appears to have made no effort to search for, collect, or review documents from personal email accounts or mobile devices of district board members and employees.”
Disney Planned to Take Tapped Depositions
In February, it was determined that CFTOD employees, including district administrator Glen Gilzen, would undergo videotape deposition. Overall, Disney gave notice that they intended to question six current and former board members as part of the discovery process.
In court this week, however, district attorneys cited the “apex doctrine,” which says that high-level government officers shouldn’t be subject to depositions unless the two parties have exhausted all other means of obtaining information. The doctrine is used in just a handful of U.S. states, but Florida is one of them.
“Disney cannot demonstrate that the individual board members have unique, personal knowledge that would be relevant to any of the claims, counterclaims or defenses in this action to overcome the apex doctrine,” district attorneys said in their motion. “Disney’s assault-style effort to depose all the board members is simply an improper form of harassment of these high-level government officials.”
The motion included statements from board members who claimed that giving depositions would “impede” their ability to fulfill their duties.
Disney, meanwhile, continues to assert that its requests have been “unreasonably delayed” by the district and that their response was “woefully inadequate.”
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