Disney shifts strategy against DeSantis in bitter legal battle: report

Disney has changed its strategy in its legal battle against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' in the fight over control of Disney World, The New York Times reported.

The company rejected DeSantis' call to drop its lawsuit against the state and is instead "narrowing the scope of its federal case to focus on the charge that Mr. DeSantis and his allies violated its First Amendment rights, and threatening new suits to gain access to public records," The Times' report stated.

The battle centers on a special district at Disney World that allowed it to effectively self-govern, as if the land the resort is on is its own county. DeSantis took over the district after the company criticized the state's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law that restricted discussions of gender and sex in classrooms.

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But before he did, Disney had signed contracts for development plans, worth around $17 billion over the next decade.

DeSantis' effort to void those contracts has resulted in a years long legal battle – that DeSantis had recently suggested he wanted to end.

If Disney's latest shift is approved by a judge, "the amendment would remove parts of the complaint specifically related to the validity of the development contracts — which is what the state case covers — while leaving intact Disney’s core accusation that Mr. DeSantis and his allies violated the company’s First Amendment rights with 'a targeted campaign of government retaliation.'"

Read the full report over at The New York Times.