A man dubbed “The Christmas Lawyer” shared his decade-long story of battling admitted anti-Christian discrimination in a tiny Idaho HOA and the subsequent legal battles that ensued as he defended his values and those of his community. Jeremy Morris, a trained lawyer, said he took up the cause because if he didn’t, then who would, he reasoned.
For context, the unnecessary hullabaloo kicked off in 2014 after Morris and his family moved to Idaho and began a months-long process of decorating their home for Christmas. He said he had previously done this and the fantastic display he set up was to gain awareness of Christ and raise money for pediatric cancer patients.
Explaining why he decided to stand up and fight, he reasoned he was in the best position based on the situation and is expertise. “We said to ourselves, if we don’t fight back against clear, unmistakable religious prejudice against Christians in the United States of America, then who would. I’m an actual lawyer. I’ve been trained to do this, so why wouldn’t I defend my family, my own honor and my faith, and not just my faith, but I’d also add the culture, because ultimately, you know, this country was founded on a Judeo Christian ethic. It’s part of the history and tradition of the United States,” he shared.
“In the year 2014 my family found ourselves in the middle of a situation where 1000s and 1000s of people were coming to our house to celebrate Christmas and raise money for children with cancer, something I never could have imagined I’d be in the middle of,” Morris continued..
It was only after he completed decorating – something he said took three months – that he received a demand letter from his HOA’s lawyers. They could have done this at any time but purposefully waited for him to complete the arduous task. He also said that members of the HOA board openly admitted to him in secret recordings that he was targeted for his faith-based displays in open hostility to religious expression.
“This all started in 2014. We had moved to Idaho, and we put up all of our Christmas lights, and it took me three months, and then we get this demand letter from a lawyer. He was hired by the HOA to give us 10 days to remove all of our lights, and they waited until we were done putting up our display,” he explained.
Morris added he had the verdict dead to rights based on what he had been told in private. “I had all these recordings of this homeowners association, multiple members of the association, of the board, admitting everything. I mean they’re admitting, yes, we discriminated against you. This is unbelievable. I have this on tape. You know, Idaho is a one party recording state, so I knew what I was doing,” he added.
Finally, with victory behind him after what amounted to a jury siding with him, a judge negating the jury verdict, appellate court decisions, millions of dollars at stake, and even a ruling by the United States Supreme Court, Morris said he would take his winnings from the corrupt HOA to create an even bigger and better display.
“What am I doing now with all of that money, that HOA money, that I just won, well, I can tell you that I’m buying a lot of Christmas lights and and I’m enjoying it every time that I screw in a light bulb, I think of my HOA,” he says.
Take a look at Morris describe the ordeal below:
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded video