ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for the Walt Disney World governing district taken over final 12 months by Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ allies don’t desire the governor’s appointees answering questions below oath as a part of its state lawsuit in opposition to Disney.
District attorneys on Monday filed a movement for a protecting order that may cease the DeSantis-appointed board members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District from having to present videotaped depositions to Disney attorneys.
Disney and the DeSantis appointees are preventing in state court docket over who controls the governing district for Disney World. The district had been managed by Disney supporters earlier than final 12 months’s takeover — which was sparked by the corporate’s opposition to Florida’s so-called “Do not Say Homosexual” legislation. It supplies municipal companies comparable to firefighting, planning and mosquito management, amongst different issues, and was managed by Disney supporters for many of its 5 a long time.
District attorneys cite the “apex doctrine,” which typically supplies that high-level authorities officers should not be topic to depositions except opposing events have exhausted all different technique of acquiring data. The doctrine is utilized in only a handful of U.S. states, together with Florida.
“Disney can’t reveal that the person board members have distinctive, private data that may be related to any of the claims, counterclaims or defenses on this motion to beat the apex doctrine,” district attorneys stated of their movement. “Disney’s assault-style effort to depose all of the board members is solely an improper type of harassment of those high-level authorities officers.”
The movement consists of statements from the board members who declare that being compelled to present depositions would “impede” their capacity to meet their duties and divert sources and a spotlight away from overseeing the district.
Earlier this month, Disney gave discover of its intention to query below oath six present and previous DeSantis-appointed board members for the aim of “discovery,” or the method of gathering data for the case. The leisure big has stated beforehand that the district has stymied its efforts to get paperwork and different data, and Disney filed a public information lawsuit in opposition to the district earlier this 12 months, claiming the district’s response to its requests have been “unreasonably delayed” and “woefully insufficient.”
For the reason that takeover final 12 months, the district has confronted an exodus of skilled staffers, with many in exit surveys complaining that the governing physique has been politicized because the changeover. Simply this month, the district’s administrator left to become a county elections supervisor at half the $400,000 wage he was incomes on the district, and the district’s DeSantis-appointed board chairman departed the next week.
A battle between DeSantis and Disney started in 2022 after the corporate, going through significant internal and external pressure, publicly opposed a state legislation that critics have known as “Don’t Say Homosexual.” The 2022 legislation bans classroom classes on sexual orientation and gender id in early grades and was championed by DeSantis, who used Disney as a punching bag in speeches till he suspended his presidential campaign this 12 months.
As punishment, DeSantis took over the district by means of laws handed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature and appointed a brand new board of supervisors.
Disney sued DeSantis and his appointees, claiming the corporate’s free speech rights have been violated for talking out in opposition to the laws. A federal choose dismissed that lawsuit in January. Disney has appealed.
Earlier than management of the district modified fingers from Disney allies to DeSantis appointees early final 12 months, the Disney supporters on its board signed agreements with Disney shifting management over design and building at Disney World to the corporate. The brand new DeSantis appointees claimed the “eleventh-hour deals” neutered their powers, and the district sued the corporate in state court docket in Orlando to have the contracts voided.
Disney has filed counterclaims that embody asking the state court docket to declare the agreements legitimate and enforceable.
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Observe Mike Schneider on X, previously generally known as Twitter: @MikeSchneiderAP.
