From Tuesday's decision by Judge Cecilia Altonaga in Foronda v. DeSantis (S.D. Fla.) (for more on the substantive First Amendment question, see these posts):
Plaintiffs are Florida residents and taxpayers. They challenge the validity of a bill recently passed by the Florida legislature and signed into law, Senate Bill 4-C, that will allegedly "eliminat[e] a special legal status that allows Walt Disney World … to operate as an independent government[,]" known as the "Reedy Creek Improvement District[,]" in the Orlando area. {Although Plaintiffs filed suit in this District, the conduct at issue and the parties are more closely connected to the Orlando area, and the Complaint's caption treats this as a suit in the "Miami Division" of the "Middle District of Florida[.]" At the risk of stating the obvious, no such division exists, nor is the undersigned a judge in the Middle District.}
In total, Plaintiffs assert four claims against three Defendants, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee, and Florida Director of the Department of Revenue Jim Zingale. In Count I, Plaintiffs allege that Senate Bill 4-C violates Florida's Reedy Creek Improvement Act and "contractual obligations" the state owes to Floridians (although the Complaint includes no attached contract). Count II alleges that the bill violates Florida Statute 213.015. Count III seeks relief under section 1983 for violations of "Disney's First Amendment rights[.]" …
At least three jurisdictional defects compel dismissal of the Complaint.
