The panel, which challenged the company's long-standing self-governing status when it replaced a Disney-backed board weeks earlier, unanimously voted to authorize a lawsuit in state court.
The litigation escalated a fight that began more than a year earlier, when the entertainment giant criticized a Florida bill limiting talk of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms. "For us to be stuck in an urban-planning design of 1967 — does that make sense to anybody?" Garcia said, arguing that his board is just trying to modernize the district.But Disney's civil complaint alleged that the state's actions amount to "as clear a case of retaliation as this Court is ever likely to see." The company noted the state's issues with the district only began after the fight over the classroom bill.