©2024 The News Service of Florida
A federal appeals court Monday approved a request from Walt Disney Parks and Resorts for a delay in a legal battle against Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
Disney on Friday asked for a 60-day extension in submitting an opening brief to “facilitate” negotiations.
It said such negotiations were contemplated in a settlement that Disney reached last month with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District in a related state-court case in Orange County.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved the request, with the initial brief now due June 17.
Disney took the case to the Atlanta-based appeals court after U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in January dismissed a lawsuit alleging that the state unconstitutionally retaliated against the company because of its opposition to a controversial education law.
The federal and state lawsuits were rooted in a decision last year by DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature to replace the former Reedy Creek Improvement District with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
The decades-old Reedy Creek district was closely aligned with Disney, while DeSantis appoints the new district’s board.
The district provides many local government services in an area that includes Disney properties.
In the federal lawsuit, Disney has alleged retaliation because it opposed a 2022 law that restricted instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, known by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.”
The settlement in the Orange County case included issues related to development agreements that Disney reached with the Reedy Creek Improvement District board before the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board took over.
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