West
‘Christmas Lawyer’ who went to war with HOA spends windfall on holiday cheer
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The “Christmas Lawyer” was facing the possibility of owing a huge amount of money over a lawsuit that he previously won over a festive Christmas display that was also helping raise money for childhood cancer. The Supreme Court kicked the case to the appellate court. Then everything turned around.
Idaho lawyer Jeremy Morris spoke to Fox News Digital about his staged elaborate holiday displays in defiance of his former homeowners association that led to a protracted legal battle.
The case was overturned by the judge after he was previously awarded $75,000 in 2019. He then appealed to the 9th Circuit in 2020, before his saga got all the way to the Supreme Court. When the case reached SCOTUS, it was kicked back to the appellate court and the HOA reached a settlement, leaving Moore triumphant.
‘CHRISTMAS LAWYER’ FILES FOR SUPREME COURT REVIEW IN BATTLE WITH HOA OVER HOLIDAY LIGHT SHOW
“They (HOA) ended up paying us significantly more, ironically, than the jury awarded us many years ago. The jury previously awarded us $75,000 (in 2019), and I will tell you that we actually settled for significantly more than $75,000,” Morris said.
In 2018, a jury unanimously agreed that the HOA discriminated against the Morris family when it tried to stop their Christmas show. But the following spring, the federal judge who oversaw the trial made the rare move of flipping the verdict. (Courtesy Jeremy Morris)
Instead of going through another trial, there was a mediation because the HOA realized Morris would keep appealing. According to Morris, the HOA, which he calls “grinches,” “undoubtedly paid over a million in attorney fees to overturn the $75,000 verdict” over the years, resulting in paying Morris more than the jury awarded him.
What is Morris doing with the money? Spreading even more Christmas cheer and not letting any grinches stop it.
“Well, I can tell you that I’m buying a lot of Christmas lights, and I’m enjoying it every time that I screw in a light bulb. I think of my HOA and their effort to shut down Christmas,” he said.
This all began in 2014, when thousands of people showed up to his house to celebrate Christmas and raise money for kids with cancer. In 2014, he repaired an antique cotton candy machine he’d inherited from his grandfather and made it the centerpiece of his Christmas display. He created a Facebook event and was shocked when hundreds of families showed up to look at lights, sip hot chocolate and meet Santa Claus.
“Not long after that, unfortunately, our family found ourselves at the center of a national, actually international, controversy that went all the way up to the United States Supreme Court,” he said.
In 2015, he decided that the celebration had to be even bigger. The family found what they called their “dream house” just outside the city of Hayden in Kootenai County and put in an offer on New Year’s Eve.
Morris immediately called the president of the neighborhood homeowners association to give it a heads-up about his planned display for the following Christmas.
Jeremy Morris told Fox News Digital that this year’s Christmas show will feature camels, choirs, 14 Christmas trees, English Christmas Spode and an indoor winter wonderland of trains, garlands and authentic 1950s bubblers. (Courtesy Jeremy Morris)
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“I reached out to the HOA and just said, ‘Hey, look, we’re going to do this thing. Maybe you have some ideas. I’m thinking maybe doing shuttles because there aren’t sidewalks. What do you think?’” Morris said. “In a very cordial way.”
In response to Morris’ plans, one West Hayden Estates homeowners association board member drafted a letter that pondered whether neighborhood “atheists” might be offended by the display and worried about “riff-raff” that might be drawn to the neighborhood, noting that the Morris family previously lived near a Walmart.
Morris started decorating his house with around 700,000 lights months before Christmas. Then the HOA’s lawyer demanded he remove them within 10 days. Morris refused.
And despite the threat of a lawsuit, the show went on, complete with a live nativity scene, carolers and even a camel. Hired shuttle buses dropped off thousands of revelers — with some families coming from Washington and Canada — over the course of the five-evening event, which raised funds for children’s charities.
Thousands of people are estimated to have attended the show, which ran for about five days, two hours a night. (Courtesy Jeremy Morris)
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Morris said his family received threats, including an in-person confrontation partially caught on camera in which a neighbor offered to “take care of him.”
Morris said he never wanted to take legal action and offered to waive his rights to proceed with a lawsuit if the HOA agreed to leave his family alone. The HOA refused, he said, and the statute of limitations was almost up.
So in January 2017, two years after receiving the first letter from the HOA, he sued, alleging religious discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The jury returned a unanimous decision in his favor and ordered the HOA to pay $75,000.
But the story didn’t end there. In a twist, a federal judge reversed the jury’s verdict and ordered Morris to pay the HOA’s legal fees, to the tune of $111,000.
Judge B. Lynn Winmill concluded the case wasn’t about religious discrimination, but rather the Morris family’s violation of neighborhood rules. Morris failed to provide facts that there was a “legally sufficient basis upon which a reasonable jury” could conclude the HOA violated the Fair Housing Act, Winmill wrote.
Additionally, the judge’s order permanently banned the family from hosting another Christmas program that violated the HOA rules.
His case went before the 9th Circuit in June 2020 and waited four years for a ruling.
A three-judge panel affirmed Winmill’s overturning of the jury verdict, concluding that a reasonable jury should not have found the HOA letter from 2015 indicated a preference that a “non-religious individual” buy the Morris’ home.
The 9th Circuit ruling allowed for a new trial, but Morris appealed to the Supreme Court instead.
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“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.
Around 349,000 Idahoans live in neighborhoods governed by HOAs, just under 20% of the state’s total population, according to 2021 data from the Foundation for Community Association Research.
Morris told Fox News Digital that his family still owns his home in Idaho but, “we were forced to quietly leave and go east due to death threats.”
“After talking to my children and supporters from around the globe — and they have encouraged me to use some of the HOAs money to host an even bigger Christmas show, and in a neighborhood that embraces Christmas. I would never again try to spread Christmas cheer to hateful people. They don’t deserve my Christmas fun. But I’ll be doing it with their money. #winning,” said Morris.
Additionally, Morris said, “The evil done by the federal judge has been undone and our family’s right to celebrate Christmas through this ministry has been vindicated. As this court order against us was only just lifted after 6 years, we focused on decorating with 14 Christmas trees and an indoor winter wonderland. But our children’s wait to see camels and choirs in our yard again is not long in coming!”
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Representatives for the West Hayden estates homeowners association did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News’ Hannah Ray Lambert contributed to this report.
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San Francisco, CA
San Francisco sets $3.4B price tag for public takeover of PG&E
Acquiring the land, rights and equipment needed for a public takeover of PG&E will cost nearly a billion dollars more than San Francisco had previously offered to the utility, according to the city’s newly revised estimate submitted to state regulators.
The new $3.4 billion valuation comes after the city had twice offered PG&E $2.5 billion for the utility’s assets, starting in 2019. Both times, PG&E officials dismissed the offers as too low. The utility has yet to make a counteroffer, however, maintaining a public takeover isn’t in the best interest of the utility or its customers.
In a filing to the state Public Utilities Commission on Monday, San Francisco PUC head Dennis Herrera said the new value is part of the city’s “century-long goal of providing electric service throughout San Francisco.” Herrera cites “consistent problems with PG&E’s service” as a factor in the city’s effort.
In December, there were seven blackouts alone, city officials say, including one triggered by a circuit breaker fire in the Mission substation that left parts of the city without power for three days during peak holiday shopping season.
According to Herrera, the $3.4 billion value is in line with an investment banking analysis that sets a value range for the utility of between $3.1 billion to $3.6 billion. The new value, Herrera says, is based on a final detailed accounting of PG&E’s assets and property and includes the undisclosed bid to acquire PG&E’s Martin substation that feeds most of the city’s power. Documents suggest consultants valued the facility at between $170 million and $370 million.
The city’s two previous offers for PG&E’s grid in the city didn’t include buying the facility in San Mateo County, near the Daly City border with San Francisco. Under the plan, the city would buy the station as well as pay separately to build a smaller PG&E substation next door to the Martin facility to serve PG&E customers outside San Francisco.
The new value accounts for 67 miles of underground transmission lines in the city, as well as more than 1,000 miles of underground distribution lines and 480 miles of overhead distribution lines. The value includes 50,000 enclosed vaults and other enclosed structures, 38,000 power poles, 17,500 switches and other electrical devices, as well as communications and control centers, spare parts and system records.
The cost of buying the land and property rights from PG&E would be about $600 million.
San Francisco’s bid to break up with PG&E and provide public power appears to be gaining momentum. Jaxon Van Derbeken reports.
PG&E – which has long cast doubt on the city’s ability to run its grid in San Francisco – said in a statement: “Our assets are not for sale, and a government takeover in the city would be extremely expensive and raise rates for San Franciscans for decades.”
The company says regulators will require the city to pay for everything from wildfire mitigation, energy efficiency programs and subsidizing rates for low-income customers – and that will mean higher, not lower rates.
The city’s bid, it says, “has grossly underestimated these costs.”
The utility adds the city’s estimate for its assets and property “lists a value billions of dollars below fair market value.” The city price estimate, the utility says, doesn’t factor in all the various costs of separating from PG&E’s grid.
“PG&E will thoroughly review CCSF’s filing and plans to submit its own testimony in October 2026, as the CPUC has directed,” the company said.
Small business owners and residents from San Francisco’s Sunset District on Monday said they plan to file a class action lawsuit against PG&E.
Denver, CO
Motorcyclist seriously injured in Denver hit-and-run crash – AOL
DENVER (KDVR) — Denver police are investigating a hit-and-run crash involving a motorcycle on Tuesday evening.
The Denver Police Department reported that the crash also involved a motorist and happened at East 9th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.
The motorcyclist was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
Police did not release any description of the suspect vehicle.
Denver police said drivers should expect delays in the area.
This is developing news.
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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
Seattle, WA
Brock: 2 drafts fits at edge rusher for Seattle Seahawks
After months of build up, the Seattle Seahawks are less than 48 hours from being on the clock for their first pick of the NFL Draft, as long as they hold on to pick No. 32 in the first round.
Seahawks Draft: A mid-round edge rusher with elite length
While the offensive line has long been a need for the Seahawks in drafts, this year running back, edge rusher and cornerback are among their top positions of need.
Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard highlighted a pair of players who could help bolster the Seahawks’ edge group as he continued his draft profile series Tuesday during Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
In this edition of Huard’s draft profiles, he looked at Michigan edge rushers Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham, who also played on the same team together in high school at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore.
Huard pointed to the connection head coach Mike Macdonald, a former Michigan defensive coordinator, and many members of his coaching staff have to the Michigan program.
“They know these guys, they know them inside and out,” Huard said. “They typically like they’re Michigan men, and these are two physical guys that have all the attributes you’re looking for on the edge.”
The high-floor pick
Moore is coming off a decorated four-year career at Michigan where he piled up 24.5 tackles for loss, 21 sacks, eight passes defended and three forced fumbles in 53 games.
This past season, the 6-foot-3, 255-pound Moore totaled 10.5 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and two forced fumbles while earning first-team All-Big Ten honors.
“I think this is a pretty fair quote about him: ‘Unselfish, well-rounded, high floor.’ Is he a high-ceiling guy? Not as much as Barham, but he’s a very high-floor guy,” Huard said.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has Moore ranked as the No. 65 prospect in this years draft. ESPN has him ranked 60th.
“He is just your fierce, tough, edgy, productive (player),” Huard said. “He played in space a little bit more. They are field-boundary scheme at Michigan at times. He’s been more of the field rusher, more against your left tackle. And (he’s) just got more in the tool bag… He’s been a defensive end. He’s pretty well versed in it. He’s going to have a bigger tool bag, I think, than both Boye (Mafe) and Derrick Hall had, and he’s going to be a second, late-second-round (pick). Rugged, tough Michigan guy.”
The high-ceiling pick
Barham spent his first two college seasons at Maryland, which included earning Freshman All-American honors in 2022, and transferred to Michigan in 2024. He played linebacker at Maryland and in his first season at Michigan before making the move to edge for his final college season.
In 12 games at a new position in 2025, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Barham amassed 10 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks.
“Jaishawn Barham is a little bit more of a wild card, and one of the scouts that was quoted in some of the prep for this said he may bloom with the right coaching,” Huard said.
Huard recalled seeing Barham as a freshman at Maryland while he was doing color commentary for FOX and being in awe of how physically mature he already looked.
“I remember being on the field, as a freshman, looking at him going, ‘There’s just no way. There’s no way humanly possible that that guy played high school football the year before,’” Huard said.
Jeremiah has Barham ranked as the No. 77 prospect in the draft. ESPN has him ranked 88th.
“He is a higher ceiling guy you’re going to have to coach up,” Huard said. “He doesn’t come with years and years and years of experience on the edge.”
Seattle Seahawks NFL Draft coverage
• An under-the-radar Seattle Seahawks need Brock Huard sees
• NFL Draft: What – and who – Seahawks could get by trading back
• Why Hasselbeck says Seahawks are in great spot to trade back
• Seattle Seahawks open to trading top pick for bigger draft class
• A player Seahawks could trade for another draft pick
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