The self-described “Christmas Lawyer,” who staged elaborate vacation shows in defiance of his former owners affiliation, is asking the nation’s highest courtroom to weigh in on the neighborhood feud.
“Who would have thought that nine Justices of the United States Supreme Court are about to sit down over Christmas and read a legal case involving a fundraiser to help families with children suffering from cancer that involves Dolly the Camel, 700,000 Christmas lights, a children’s choir and the REAL SANTA CLAUS testifying in federal court,” Jeremy Morris informed Fox Information Digital in an e mail.
Morris, an lawyer, gained worldwide prominence in 2015 for throwing a five-day vacation gentle present that drew hundreds of revelers to his former residence simply exterior of Hayden, Idaho, to the dismay of a few of his neighbors.
His subsequent battle together with his HOA over alleged non secular discrimination reached the ninth Circuit Court docket of Appeals, which dominated earlier this 12 months partially for Morris, and partially for the HOA.
The HOA had till Dec. 19 to file an opposition to Morris’ newest petition however declined to take action. Lawyer Peter Smith stated that’s as a result of justices are unlikely to take the case. The Supreme Court docket is requested to overview greater than 7,000 circumstances every year and often agrees to listen to fewer than 100.
“[T]his case does not warrant the Court’s attention given it is an isolated dispute between a homeowner and a homeowners association,” Smith, who’s representing the HOA, wrote to Fox Information Digital.
Origins of the Christmas gentle battle
Morris made a suggestion on a home close to Hayden simply after throwing his inaugural gentle present at his earlier residence over Christmas 2014.
He knowledgeable the West Hayden Estates Owners Affiliation that he deliberate to repeat the occasion and the HOA instantly tried to squash the Christmas show, arguing it could possible violate three sections of the neighborhood’s covenants, circumstances, and restrictions. The occasion can be too large, too noisy, and too vibrant, the board wrote in a letter despatched to Morris in January 2015.
Crucially, the letter additionally contemplated whether or not “non-Christians” can be offended by the show. Morris wrote again, arguing that there was nothing relevant to his occasion within the CC&Rs and that the board was participating in non secular discrimination. His household closed on the home and moved in.
When Morris began hanging a whole bunch of hundreds of particular person bulbs on his home à la Clark Griswold, the HOA’s lawyer despatched him a letter threatening authorized motion if he hosted the occasion with out approval from the board.
Morris didn’t again down. Musicians, a youngsters’s choir, a dwell nativity scene, and even a camel greeted spectators. Morris rented shuttle buses to hold guests to the occasion, and volunteers directed vehicles via the streets round the home, in response to courtroom paperwork.
Tensions grew main as much as the Morris household’s 2016 present. Neighbors have been accused of harassing spectators, and Morris stated his household obtained threats, together with an in-person confrontation partially caught on digital camera through which a neighbor provided to “take care of him.”
Morris beforehand informed Fox Information Digital he didn’t wish to take authorized motion and provided to waive his rights to proceed with a lawsuit if the HOA agreed to depart his household alone. The HOA refused, he stated, and the statute of limitations was virtually up on the unique letter.
Jury unanimously sided with Morris in discrimination lawsuit, however decide flipped the decision
Morris sued in January 2017, alleging non secular discrimination in violation of the Honest Housing Act. A jury unanimously sided with him and ordered the HOA to pay $75,000.
However Choose B. Lynn Winmill took the bizarre step of flipping the decision and ordering Morris to pay the HOA greater than $111,000 in authorized charges, concluding the case wasn’t about non secular discrimination, however fairly the Morris household’s violation of neighborhood guidelines.
A 3-judge panel affirmed Winmill’s overturning of the jury verdict, concluding {that a} cheap jury mustn’t have discovered the HOA letter from 2015 indicated a choice {that a} “non-religious individual” purchase the Morrises’ residence.
However the panel additionally decided there was sufficient proof supporting the jury’s conclusion that the HOA board’s “conduct was motivated at least in part by the Morrises’ religious expression,” in response to the greater than 100-page ruling.
The ninth Circuit ruling allowed for a brand new trial, however Morris appealed to the Supreme Court docket as a substitute. He has “several attorneys potentially lined up” to characterize him, and stated he’s hopeful his case will attraction to the justices, noting that it encompasses a number of constitutional rights.
“The right to celebrate Christmas in accordance with our family’s faith traditions, to use our property to express that Christian faith tradition, and the right to have a unanimous jury verdict protected after 15 hours of deliberations — all are at the core of Constitutional protections and 250 years of American jurisprudence,” he wrote.
Smith beforehand informed Fox Information Digital that the HOA “categorically denies it interfered with the Morrises’ right to purchase and enjoy their home free from discrimination” and “has always strived to foster an inclusive and welcoming environment for all residents.”
Round 349,000 Idahoans dwell in neighborhoods ruled by HOAs, just below 20% of the state’s whole inhabitants, in response to 2021 knowledge from the Basis for Group Affiliation Analysis.
