The Walt Disney Company continues to pay a heavy price in its political battle with Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Disney is currently facing a class action lawsuit brought by several of its employees who were relocated from California to make way for the proposed Lake Nona campus in the Orlando area, Florida, leaving the employees stranded after Disney canceled the $1 billion project last year after clashing with Governor DeSantis over Florida’s policy banning gay and transgender indoctrination in schools.
The employees filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging that Disney fraudulently induced them to sell their Southern California homes and relocate to Central Florida. LA Times The first to report In a suit.
In one instance, a Disney employee allegedly sold a home that had been in his family for generations.
The lawsuit reportedly seeks to represent “all current and former California Disney employees who relocated from California to Florida as a result of Disney’s announcement of the Lake Nona Project.” The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified punitive damages.
As Breitbart News reported, Disney canceled the $1 billion Lake Nona project last year at the height of its feud with the state of Florida. The megacampus was set to house 2,000 employees, including those from Disney’s “Imagineering” division, with an average salary of $120,000.
Under former CEO Bob Chapek, Disney fueled its battles with DeSantis by publicly denouncing Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, which bans schools from indoctrination of children with homosexual or transgender ideas. Disney even vowed to fight to repeal the law, even though its headquarters are in California, not Florida.
After Bob Iger returned to the helm, Disney continued to fight the state. In response, DeSantis stripped Disney of its home rule in the Orlando area, a prized privilege it had enjoyed for 50 years. Both sides sued, igniting a costly legal battle.
The feud has generated constant negative press for Disney, embroiled the company in a culture war and caused immeasurable brand damage.
Disney waved the white flag this year, dropping litigation in the so-called “Reedy Creek” dispute, and is now preparing to invest up to $17 billion in Disney World in Florida, including opening a fifth theme park.
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