UPDATE 5:00 pm: The CFTOD has officially filed its complaint against The Walt Disney Company.
Follow this updated link to read the entire 188-page complaint.
In Monday’s special meeting of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, Martin Garcia, the board’s head, announced that the District is filing a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company in response to the lawsuit filed against them.
Garcia stated that there is one topic under new business: to discuss the lawsuit Disney filed against the board and five of its members in their official capacity.
He discussed what the board has done during the past four meetings, mostly concerning hiring legal council, also stating that they will continue to “uphold and enforce the board’s April 26th legislative findings relating to the February 8th Development Agreement and declaration of restrictive covenants.”
Martin also made a statement saying that Disney’s lawsuit is trying to “wrestle” control from them to “turn back the hands of time to 1967.”
Martin then raised a motion to file a counter-lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company, which was unanimously approved by the board.
Ron Peri, one of the board members, asked to speak and stated that he was happily retired before Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whom he’d never met, approached him and asked him to be a member of the new board. He also brought up that news outlets falsely accused him of saying, “if you drink tap water, it will make you gay.” He stated that he never said that and that he receives hate mail due to the false accusation.
